Fox News Host Ainsley Earhardt's Tragic Life Story

Ainsley Earhardt is, for many, one of the first voices they hear as they start their day. She's one of the hosts at "Fox & Friends" and has been devoting her time to the network since 2007. During this time, Earhardt has really been through it, but she's also achieved many milestones — she gave birth to her daughter, Hayden, wrote a couple of children's books, and eventually a memoir, "The Light Within Me," in which she allowed readers a glimpse into her life. "It is such an inspirational story of how you go through rough time and I just felt that God is always there to pick me up and get me back on track. It helps viewers understand more about me and my faith and God in my life and I want Him to get the glory," Earhardt told Haute Living. "I am just so blessed and I write about what motivates me every morning and my passions and how a girl from South Carolina has made it to New York."

Earhardt might be a New York Times bestselling author, but the successful life she now lives didn't come all that easily — and staying on top of her game still requires daily effort. Her mornings start at 3 a.m. to get ready for her shift at Fox News, and the rest of her day consists of taking care of her daughter as a single mom while also trying to squeeze in some much-needed naps. Earhardt is living her best life right now, but she endured plenty of hardship over the years.

It might be safe to say that Ainsley Earhardt hasn't been the luckiest when it comes to love. She got married — and divorced — twice, and subsequently had to navigate life as a single mother.

Earhardt's first marriage was to Kevin McKinney, whom she married in 2005. The newlyweds had a fancy reception at the governor's mansion. Sadly, their marriage ended in 2009, two years after Earhardt started her career at Fox News. She found love again with William Proctor, and they tied the knot in 2012. Unfortunately, after six years of marriage, Earhardt and Proctor decided to go their separate ways. Rumors that Proctor had been unfaithful were swirling before Earhardt announced the separation. "After much prayer and careful consideration, Will and I have separated," she said in a statement obtained by Page Six. A day after Earhardt's statement went public, Proctor filed for divorce. "I am devastated about this situation and did not envision this for the future of our family," he told Page Six.

While Earhardt didn't say why she and her husband were divorcing, a source told Page Six that Proctor's infidelity was to blame. "Proctor was unfaithful with one of her closest friends a few years ago and there is evidence to prove it," the insider claimed. Proctor, however, vehemently denied these allegations. "There is not one ounce of truth to the allegations that I had an affair," he clapped back. "I am disappointed that this private matter has become public." He added that he accepted Earhardt's decision to separate but was determined to ensure they remained on good terms. In the aftermath of the divorce, Earhardt told People that navigating life as a single parent wasn't exactly a walk in the park. "I mean, ask any parent who has their spouse fighting for our country and they're overseas. It does have its challenges because it's just me," she said.

In 2018, Ainsley Earhardt was dealing with a family emergency. Her mother, Dale Earhardt, suffered a severe stroke. Earhardt's mother had been battling several health issues, including kidney disease, diabetes, and irregular blood pressure. "When we got that call, we were shocked when we found out that she'd had a stroke, and that was really scary," Earhardt said during an interview with Atrium Health. The stroke left Dale unable to breathe on her own, and she couldn't speak, eat, or walk, and experienced paralysis in her right extremities. Her doctor, Vishwa Raj, M.D., was concerned Dale's chances of recovery would be slim. "She had probably the most severe form of a stroke," he said.

Dale managed to make a miraculous recovery after her stroke, but then the pandemic hit, and Earhardt feared for her mother's health once again. Dale had to pay a visit to the hospital three times a week to receive dialysis. She'd been on the kidney transplant list for years but had yet to find a donor. Knowing her immunocompromised mother had to pay frequent visits to the hospital while the coronavirus was running rampant understandably worried Earhardt. "They haven't had obviously as many cases in South Carolina as they have here [in New York]," Earhardt told the Charlotte Observer. "So I'm a little bit more worried than I think they are, but they are following the rules — the distancing — if people come to visit her. ... I've told her some stories about some of the cases here in New York. Not to scare her, but just to keep her aware that 'When your friends come over, wear a mask, and keep a distance, and don't let 'em hug you or anything like that."

While Ainsley Earhardt was building her career, having children was the farthest thing from her mind, but as she and her husband, William Proctor, settled in New York, she finally realized that she really wanted to have kids. In fact, she dreamed of having four, but accepted that her job and age wouldn't allow for that. Earhardt was already in her 30s when she married and, having waited a while to make the decision to have children, was running out of time. So she settled for one, and she expected the journey to that dream would be pretty straightforward. It was not.

Celebs like Jennifer Aniston have been open about their infertility struggles, and in a candid essay Earhardt wrote for Women's Health, she followed in their footsteps. "I wanted a baby so badly, but it wasn't working out. I began feeling really sad that we were having so much trouble conceiving," she wrote. "I continuously saw pregnant ladies on the sidewalks, children on park swings, and moms pushing strollers. My professional friends were getting pregnant, and I was not."

The realization that getting pregnant wasn't going to be as easy as she'd envisioned was hard for Earhardt, who had planned everything meticulously. She even structured her plans to conceive around the baby's possible due date, not wanting to have a summer baby, given how many times she'd heard people complain about how hard it was to enroll them in New York preschools. So Earhardt planned to have her baby in the fall. In retrospect, she recalled what one of her friends once told her. "'We plan, God laughs.' She was right," Earhardt wrote. She described how her infertility journey taught her to have patience but admitted that it was an emotionally trying time for her and her husband.

After eight long months of trying to conceive, Earhardt finally got pregnant. She was elated, even more so when she and her husband went to their first ultrasound and heard their baby's heartbeat. They recorded it and called their family to share their pregnancy news. Their second appointment, however, stood in stark contrast to the first. "The doctor searched for a heartbeat, but there wasn't one," Ainsley wrote in an essay for Women's Health. "I had to have an operation to remove my lifeless baby. I felt despair—knowing my child and I would be permanently separated." Speaking to "I Am Second," Earhardt recalled how awful the aftermath of her miscarriage was. "I remember crying because I didn't want them to take her away from me," she said.

Earhardt and her husband let doctors run a genetic test after the baby's death, which showed she had an extra chromosome. Earhardt said she initially blamed herself for the miscarriage, thinking that her age was the problem. After doctors had completed the tests, Earhardt called the nurse to ask if she could tell her the baby's gender. The nurse seemed hesitant to answer at first, but Earhardt told her, "I [need] to know if I [have] a daughter or a son in heaven. She told me, 'It's a girl.'"

Navigating life after the miscarriage was hard, and Earhardt admitted during her interview with I Am Second that she became hyper-focused on all the women around her who were either pregnant or already had children. "You see other girls with their carriages and strollers and their babies and their baby bumps, and you want it so badly," she admitted. She eventually became pregnant again, and this time, welcomed a healthy baby girl.

In 2022, Ainsley Earhardt dealt with a devastating loss: her mother, Dale Earhardt, died. What surprised many was that Earhardt still showed up to work for "Fox & Friends" on Monday even though her mother had died that Saturday. Earhardt was afforded the opportunity to pay tribute to her mom on air, and she did so by showcasing various photographs of Dale with her grandchildren and recalling how much she loved all of them. "You're maybe wondering how I can come to work today. Mom would have wanted me to," Earhardt said. "We're just grateful we know her faith was strong. We know where she is. She's with Jesus. She loved the Lord," Earhardt added.

She also praised the way her mother lived her life, recalling how she always looked for opportunities to serve her family and community. According to Earhardt, Dale was the glue that kept them all together. "She was a school teacher. She would come home late, run around with our errands, and have food on the table for my dad. So she just was a servant. She served everybody in her community," Earhardt said. She added that her mother was very supportive of her career and would watch "Fox & Friends" every morning. "She knew when I was taking a day off and would say, 'Where are you?!'" Earhardt recalled. "What I loved most about her is that she let Ainsley be Ainsley," Earhardt added, explaining that her dad was the tough one while her mom was the comforter who would give her a hug whenever she was upset.

Earhardt managed to keep her composure throughout the tribute, and it was only when one of her co-hosts said her mom was proud of her that Earhardt started to become emotional as she said, "I'm so proud to call her mom, and I am so proud to be her daughter."

Living through a pandemic is no small feat, and Ainsley Earhardt, like so many others, was worried about her family. One of her friends lost her mother-in-law to the virus, and Earhardt was dealing with concerns regarding her au pair's stay in the United States as then-President Donald Trump announced that all immigration would be temporarily suspended. Earhardt had moved to Long Island for the time being to wait out the pandemic, but Fox News was still going about its business, albeit with its employees working remotely.

While addressing Trump's plans to halt immigration, Earhardt admitted that it would have an adverse effect on her family. "Many families here — including mine — we have au pairs and we rely on them," she explained (via the Charlotte Observer). "I go to work at 3 o'clock in the morning so I need her there and I need her in my house so that she can help me with my daughter. Many families rely on child care from other countries." Her words quickly triggered a social media storm, with critics on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying Earhardt's complaint was unwarranted. "Oh wow, all the millions of AMERICANS out of work & Ainsley can't find one to babysit? What a stuck up snob!" one wrote.

The backlash got so bad that Earhardt eventually issued a formal statement to the Charlotte Observer. "I am extremely disheartened that any person or publication would criticize a single mother's parenting decisions, especially during a time of crisis," she wrote, explaining that she and many other parents were experiencing unprecedented challenges that forced them to rely on others to help take care of their children. Prior to the media storm, Earhardt admitted that dealing with public criticism was never fun. "I wouldn't be human if it didn't [affect me]," she said.