The Transformation Of Ainsley Earhardt

Over the years, Ainsley Earhardt has grown into one of Fox News' most visible personalities. However, her evolution from small-time South Carolina reporter to big-time national morning show host didn't happen overnight. Earhardt's early life has certainly informed her values and practices, and her outspokenness about her Christian faith and extreme conservative views have made her a perfect fit for Fox. She has co-hosted "Fox & Friends" for over a decade after working as a correspondent. Now that Earhardt is engaged to Sean Hannity, she is being referred to as part of "The First Couple of Fox," further solidifying her place as a face of the network.

Earhardt began her post-graduate schooling intending to be an orthodontist, but a jump into journalism altered the course of her life forever. She worked in Columbia, South Carolina, and San Antonio, Texas, for years before getting the call to interview at Fox News in 2007. In addition to "Fox & Friends," Earhardt has appeared on "Fox & Friends First," "Outnumbered," "Fox Files," "On the Record w/ Brit Hume," and many other programs for the popular network. In 2024, Earhardt received an honorary doctorate from her alma mater, the University of South Carolina, and was inducted into the South Carolina Entertainment & Music Hall of Fame. But how did she get from her humble roots to the legendary News Corp building in New York City? Here's a look at Ainsley Earhardt's transformation.

Ainsley Earhardt constantly discusses her faith, so it will come as no surprise to anyone that the star grew up in a very religious household. She was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and lived in Spartanburg until her family ultimately settled in Columbia, South Carolina. Though her home was filled with love, Earhardt has said that her parents, Dale and Wayne, ran a tighter ship than she does with her own daughter. "My parents were very strict and my dad was in the military for 20 years and was a coach," she told Yahoo! Life in 2021.

Earhardt's mom worked early in the morning, so her father got the journalist and her two siblings ready for school each day. At the breakfast table, he would lay out inspirational notes, poems, and scriptures every morning, which is something Earhardt later used as inspiration for one of her children's books. Though she read the Bible, attended regular services, and was encouraged to give 10% of her earnings to the church, it was in college that Earhardt doubled down on religion. "God changed my life," Earhardt said to People. "I need him so much. I would say I go to church not because I'm good, but because I need to go. I need to learn to be good because I've made a lot of mistakes and I've had a lot of failures, but God is just always there to pick me up."

While it isn't rare for college students to change majors, they usually transfer into a complimentary program rather than a totally disparate one. Ainsley Earhardt, however, made a jump from biology to communications. Earhardt first enrolled at Florida State University, where she enjoyed herself socially but found herself uninterested in the hard sciences. When she switched majors, the TV star also decided to leave the Sunshine State in favor of a school closer to home. She transferred to the University of South Carolina's College of Journalism and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism in 1999.

Years earlier, Earhardt had her heart set on being an actor — which her parents were firmly against. So, she switched her goal to orthodontist, which was an easy choice because she worked for one part-time in high school. However, that yearning to be in front of the camera, coupled with an interest in PR and a strong desire to live in New York or Los Angeles, eventually led Earhardt to broadcast journalism. Earhardt led a student-run broadcast network while at USC, and she very quickly realized her calling had nothing to do with outfitting teeth with braces. "I'm so glad I chose this. I would have been just a fine orthodontist, but this is my passion," she told Elle. "I swear it's not work for me. I can't believe this is my job."

Few industries are tougher to break into than broadcast journalism and, like many others, Ainsley Earhardt had to establish herself in a smaller market before making the big leagues. Given her training and conventionally attractive appearance, Earhardt had no trouble landing her first job, though. In fact, she was hired by CBS affiliate station WLTX before even earning her diploma.

Earhardt was given a lot to do at WLTX, where she remained for the first four years of her career. She started on the 11 p.m. news and was initially reluctant when her boss asked her to transition to the "WLTX News 19 Morning Show." "I told him I was a hard news person; I wanted to cover the accidents and the political stories. I didn't think I was funny and didn't want to cover the fluffy pieces," she explained to Columbia Metropolitan Magazine. Clearly, none of this has been an issue in the years since.

Though she is a big city gal, Earhardt considered a job in upstate New York, as she felt a few years up north would help prepare her for the Big Apple. "I knew no one in New York City was going to hire me if I had a southern accent," the journalist admitted to Business Insider. A mentor convinced her she would have an easier shot at breaking into the industry closer to home, and Earhardt eventually landed in her dream city anyway.

Ainsley Earhardt did extremely well at WLTX, where both her evening and morning programs were #1 in their timeslots. She also won a South Carolina Star Award for reporting during this time and was at one point voted "Best Personality of the Year" by readers of Columbia Metropolitan Magazine. But after four years on the air in South Carolina, Earhardt decided to pack up for a job in a much bigger market — San Antonio. She started her new job at another CBS affiliate station, KENS-TV, in 2005.

In Texas, both of Earhardt's weekday news programs — "Eyewitness News This Morning" and "Eyewitness News at Noon — were similarly rated #1, and she quickly made her stamp in the Lone Star State. "Everybody knew she was a star," Deborah Knapp, an anchorwoman for KENS-TV, said to Elle.

Earhardt has cousins in Texas and has said she always wanted to live there, but she has also been vocal about New York City being her ultimate dream. So, it's not a huge shocker that she left San Antonio when a cushy New York job offer came her way two years later. "I was heartbroken to leave San Antonio because the community had embraced me, my boss was a really good friend and mentor, and I loved my dear friends in Texas," the journalist told My San Antonio in 2020. "But, I had worked hard to get to the number one market and didn't feel I could turn it down."

Ainsley Earhardt didn't leave Texas for just any job in New York; the move also allowed her to level up in terms of prestige and exposure. The best part? She was recruited: in 2007, Earhardt received a call from her agent inviting her to interview at Fox News. She turned 30 the same weekend she flew to New York to meet with Roger Ailes, then the network's CEO and chairman. Earhardt was hired as a correspondent for Fox News Channel soon after and she started out with overnight news cut-ins. By 2009, she had her own segment called "Ainsley Across America," on "Hannity," the popular program hosted by her now-fiance, Sean Hannity.

Earhardt became co-host of "Fox & Friends First" in 2013, and then upgraded to co-host of "Fox & Friends" three years later. While she is probably best known for the latter, she has done plenty of other work for the network, including appearing on over 100 episodes of "On the Record w/ Brit Hume," co-hosting 42 episodes of "Outnumbered," and working on 17 episodes of "Fox Files." I'm in such a different place now than I was when I got to Fox. It's all happened there. I mean, the most monumental parts of my life, really, most of them have happened while I'm working at Fox," Earhardt told People in 2019. "The Fox family has completely embraced me through it all."

Ainsley Earhardt married ex-husband Will Proctor, a former player in the Canadian Football League, in 2012. The couple started trying for a baby when Earhardt got the itch a couple of years later. "At the time, I was co-hosting the 5 a.m. show, 'Fox & Friends First,' my position was secure, and my husband and I could finally afford to raise a child in New York," Earhardt told Women's Health. "The timing was perfect, and I had everything planned: We would conceive in February or March, because I was determined to have a baby in the fall." It took the couple eight months to conceive, and they were naturally thrilled when they finally did.

One of the saddest parts of Earhardt's tragic life story came at her second prenatal visit; doctors couldn't detect the fetus' heartbeat. Earhardt had an operation to remove the fetus, and the couple decided to take a beat before trying to conceive again. They unexpectedly got pregnant once more in the interim, and Earhardt birthed a healthy baby girl roughly a year after her devastating miscarriage. Rainbow baby Hayden DuBose Proctor was born on November 6, 2015. Earhardt relied on her strong faith to help her make sense of her miscarriage and is now at peace with her loss. "I understood why I had that miscarriage," she explained to The Conservateur. "I'll meet her in heaven. And now I have my Hayden, and I wouldn't have Hayden if I hadn't had that miscarriage."

By the time Ainsley Earhardt was named co-host of "Fox & Friends" in 2016, she had already been at Fox News Channel for nine years. It was her dream role, and the program has been the top-rated morning news show for 23 consecutive years (as of 2024). "I'm in the job I always wanted, and I worked so hard to get here. I worked across the country, weekends, late night, overnight. I would come in right after 8 p.m. and stay all night, anchor the morning show, and stay and do the headlines," she said to Columbia Metropolitan Magazine. "I was on the campaign trail; I went to both conventions. I've seen this country. I've met celebrities, soldiers fighting for this country, and people providing scholarships for our children. I worked crazy hours and loved every single minute of it, and I'm grateful. I'm finally in the job I love."

Earhardt was offered her dream gig while on maternity leave, and she has said the opportunity added extra excitement to her time as a new mother. She has also confirmed she has no plans of leaving until they push her out the door. "I would be completely content to stay in this position for the rest of my life," Earhardt told People in 2019. "I really have finally found that peace and that happiness. I finally feel free and to know that my goals have been met. I just feel content."

Though television news is her bread and butter, Ainsley Earhardt has done plenty of other things on the professional front. She appeared as herself in a 2020 TV movie, "Christmas in the Rockies," for example. But her biggest side job has been that of an author, most notably of children's books. Earhardt's first book, "Take Heart, My Child: A Mother's Dream," was released in 2016 and sold out within a week and a half. After her first idea was denied by Simon & Schuster, Earhardt decided to draw upon her childhood to find inspiration for the bestselling debut. Using her father's notes to her as inspiration, the expecting mom wrote a book of lessons for her daughter Hayden, who was born not long after the book's release.

Earhardt subsequently published two more kids' books, "Through our Eyes: My Child's Gift to Me" and "I'm So Glad You Were Born: Celebrating Who You Are." The latter was inspired by her mother, who had become ill after a stroke. "When I was a child, my mother always said (on my birthday), 'I'm so glad you were born'. As I grew older, I began saying it to friends and family," Earhardt said to City Lifestyle. "It became my common response to birthday celebrations on 'Fox & Friends.'" All three books hit number one on the children's picture book charts, and Earhardt's 2019 memoir "The Light Within Me" was also a New York Times bestseller.

Ainsley Earhardt and William Proctor weathered their miscarriage together in 2014, welcomed a baby girl in 2015, and realized they were not end game not long after that. In 2018, Proctor filed for divorce from his wife — just one day after she announced their separation. Rumors swirled that the former football player had cheated on Earhardt, with an unnamed source telling People that Proctor "was unfaithful with one of her closest friends a few years ago and there is evidence to prove it." Proctor vehemently denied the claims, and Earhardt has never confirmed them in public. Plus, there could plenty of other possible reasons for the split, including Earhardt and Proctor's large age gap.

Earhardt has expressed only positive feelings about Proctor, with whom she co-parents daughter Hayden. "We honestly wish each other nothing but the best, and we will remain friends for the rest of our lives because we share this precious, beautiful daughter together," the journalist said to People in 2019, the same year the divorce was finalized.

Many fans do not realize that Earhardt's six-year marriage to Proctor was not her first failed marriage. In the early years of her career, Earhardt was married to her college sweetheart, Kevin McKinney. In fact, she was with McKinney when she first started at Fox News Channel in 2007. The couple were wed from 2005 to 2009, but McKinney is oft forgotten since Earhardt had not yet broken out when they divorced.

Ainsley Earhardt became engaged to fellow Fox News personality Sean Hannity on Christmas 2024, shocking absolutely no one. Their romance was well-known, even though the duo attempted to hide it for years before finally coming clean. One of Earhardt's early gigs was her segment on "Hannity," and she started that the same year she divorced her first husband. She met, married, and divorced her second husband while still making appearances on Hannity's show, but love was likely not in the air at that time. Hannity was himself married up until fairly recently — he divorced his wife Jill in 2020, but they had been separated for a long time before that — and there is no indication anything blossomed between him and Earhardt until they were both single.

Rumors of a romance first emerged in June 2020, after Vanity Fair reported Earhardt and Hannity had been secretly dating for months. One of the biggest signs they pointed to, aside from insider quotes, was the fact that Earhardt used Hannity's home studio to host "FOX & Friends" during the COVID-19 quarantine period. Though Earhardt reacted to the report with claims she was single and not looking, and Hannity refused to discuss it at all, People reported that they may have been dating for years before the 2020 report. Hannity and Earhardt finally went public with their romance in 2023, which is also when the Daily Mail published the first photos of them posing in a romantic way and hanging out with Earhardt's daughter.

Ainsley Earhardt is obviously skilled in the craft of journalism, but she has made enough big on-air missteps over the years that some have questioned her abilities and objectivity. For instance, in 2019, Earhardt praised President Donald Trump — for losing $1 billion. "It's beyond what most of us could ever achieve," she inexplicably declared on "Fox & Friends" (via Vox). A year prior, she falsely claimed that the U.S. "defeated communist Japan" while live on the air (per The Standard). She has also been called out for spreading misinformation about abortion bans —but let's not pretend that Earhardt is the only Fox News personality who has faced critiques or made gaffes. Alina Habba has had plenty of awkward moments on Fox News, for instance, as have many others. 

One of Earhardt's biggest controversies happened in March 2020, when she told viewers it was "actually the safest time to fly," even though the State Department had issued warnings, specifically when it comes to international travel, travel by older adults, and for those with chronic conditions. Earhardt's statements were seen as especially concerning given Fox News's older-skewing demographic. Also in 2020, Earhardt praised the Trump administration's use of intelligence agencies, despite having previously been a huge dissenter of intelligence. "Either Trump supporters are self-serving hypocrites who defend intelligence agencies when they want to bomb other countries but attack them when they investigate the president's crimes, or...Ainsley Earhardt has an evil twin," Seth Meyers said on his late night show (via the Daily Beast).