Tragic Details Of CNN Anchor Erin Burnett

There is plenty we know about CNN anchor Erin Burnett, but there are also a slew of lesser-known facts that are yet to be discovered. For example, she never actually planned to become a journalist. Burnett began her career in finance, working for Goldman Sachs as an investment banking analyst, before deciding to shake things up. Taking a wild chance, Burnett sent a fan letter to CNN anchor Willow Bay and the gamble paid off. Her praise clearly hit a chord because Bay soon hired Burnett as her assistant. This unique opportunity would eventually lead to Burnett stepping in front of the camera herself, first at Bloomberg, then at CNBC in 2005. Her success story became even sweeter when she landed at CNN in 2011 as the face of what would become a decade-long program, "OutFront."

These days, Burnett is one of CNN's highest-paid journalists, earning millions a year, but not all aspects of her life have been so picture-perfect. As is so often the case, she's also faced her share of roadblocks and hardships, both personal and professional. These are the tragic details of CNN anchor Erin Burnett's life.

After getting her start working as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs, Erin Burnett switched gears and carved out a new niche for herself as a trustworthy money and business reporter thanks to CNBC. In 2005, she was named co-host of a brand new show, "Squawk on the Street," which taped right inside the NYSE and drew her plenty of praise. However, at the height of her popularity, Burnett decided to leave the show in May 2011 and ditch the network, moving to CNN. That October, she launched her own show, "OutFront," but sadly, it was met with a series of devastating reviews.

Burnett's inaugural "OutFront" episode featured a headline-making piece on the Occupy Wall Street protests that soon landed her in hot water. Forbes called her "vapid," arguing she acted condescending towards her interview subjects, while The Baltimore Sun proclaimed, "She comes across as self-satisfied, smug, privileged, and feeling not one whit of their pain."

In addition to fellow media outlets taking note, it seemed that audiences were also rubbed the wrong way. Just 10 days after its premiere, "OutFront" had dropped to 70 percent of its initial ratings. Two weeks after that, it hit another all-time low with just 67,000 viewers among the coveted 25- to 54-year-old age group.

Before the month was out, Burnett's credibility and aptitude for the job were being ruthlessly torn into. CBS News even published what it called the "Erin Burnett disaster timeline," musing whether or not she could ever turn things around.

Erin Burnett has had her share of awkward on-air moments, but one of the strangest things that viewers simply can't seem to get over is her eyes. More specifically, critics have been bothered by the anchor's blinking. "Is it me or does Erin Burnett from @cnn blink as much as Trump sniffs?" asked one snarky 2016 tweet.

Years later, in 2024, it was still a subject of great debate when an entire Reddit thread popped up, asking, "Does anybody here know why Erin Burnett blinks so much and so hard?" While some users said they never noticed such a thing, others quickly piled on. "Yes, her excessive blinking is so distracting!!!" went one comment. "Is there something wrong with her eyes???"

Burnett herself gave critics even more to talk about when, in 2017, she went live on the air with her right eye looking infected and almost completely swollen shut. "Needs a pirate eye patch," quipped one viewer, per Inside Edition, while another joked she looked like she had been boxing. Burnett initially tried to hide the issue, looking off-camera as much as possible, but was ultimately forced to stop her job to address it. Although no apology was required, she told viewers she was sorry on-air, then tweeted her excuses as well. "I have a bad cold and literally minutes before the show my eye obviously was affected," she explained. "Sorry all!" 

Donald Trump has never been one to hold back, especially when he's in the mood to criticize a famous face. Whether it be an attack on a celebrity — like his bizarre Whoopi Goldberg rant — or a scathing review about a fellow politician — like his eyebrow-raising rant about Virginia's governor — there's no stopping Trump once he gets started.

Erin Burnett learned this first-hand in October 2023 after she questioned Trump's proclamation that immigrants are, as he put it, "poisoning the blood of our country." The incendiary statement was made during a rally in New Hampshire and, as NBC News reported, Joe Biden's campaign was quick to draw a comparison to Adolf Hitler's own use of the words "blood poisoning." It's a point Burnett herself later made on-air while interviewing Republican Congressman Anthony D'Esposito.

That, in turn, sparked a long rebuke from Trump who took to Truth Social at 1:40 a.m. to mock Burnett — despite the fact she hadn't made any false claims. After questioning her ratings and claiming her facts were incorrect, Trump alleged that Burnett used to repeatedly call him to ask if she could appear on "The Apprentice." "She would do ANYTHING!" he seethed before making the attack personal. "The fact is she was not smart, and very boring, much like she is today on her soon to be canceled (???) show," he mocked. "Put it to sleep!"

Yes, Erin Burnett has had a few controversial moments, but her on-air gaffes haven't merited the kind of hatred she's received from trolls. Whether it be from Donald Trump or unknown critics hiding behind anonymous online profiles, their words hurt just the same.

Indeed, while speaking with The Cut in 2022 to celebrate 10 years of hosting "OutFront," she admitted it hasn't always been easy. Getting candid about the mental health effects of such backlash, the news anchor revealed that it's really hard not to take things personally. "Anybody who tells you that when people come after them on Twitter, especially en masse, that it doesn't upset them, I find that hard to believe," she mused. "I don't pretend that things don't upset me."

That sentiment is not all that surprising when you consider the fact that her integrity and journalistic abilities are regularly called into question. In 2024, for example, one Reddit user started an entire thread to ask if Burnett was "just phoning it in now?" and a long slew of Redditors jumped at the chance to criticize her. "Erin usually has her head down, not really listening, as she prepares for her next question," read one response.

Erin Burnett is a proud mom of three who's done her best to balance a growing family with her fast-paced career. As she told TheWrap in 2015, that often means the two duties overlap. "We have calls very early in the morning and [my two-year-old son Nyle] hears them," she said. Indeed, as she later revealed to The Cut in 2022, she's devoted to both passions and isn't about to give either one up. Even when that means waking up in the middle of the night (between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m.) just to catch up on the news cycle before briefly dozing again and being up at 7 a.m. to make breakfast for her kids and take them to school. Then it's off to a full day of work before getting back home at 8:30 p.m. at which point, she shared, "I can spend some time with my kids and put them to bed."

However, there are times when she can't have it both ways and there's a need to put work first. One such instance was when she went to Ukraine to cover the war with Russia. What was supposed to be a few days turned into two weeks, which was tough, but Burnett chose to see the upside. "I think that when children see their parents doing work that is meaningful, that's a good thing," she reflected. "Every job has its own challenges, but they see that their parents do that and have this aspect of their lives – that's really important."

Journalists are meant to be impartial while on the job, but that can be especially hard when reporting on heartbreaking stories that involve family and loss. Erin Burnett learned that first-hand during an April 2020 interview with a woman whose husband died of COVID-19 complications. Just as Maura Lewinger recalled saying goodbye to her husband, Joseph Lewinger, via Facetime, Burnett became unable to speak. "I think your love for him," she started before pausing, placing her head in her hands, and letting her tears flow. "Sorry, you made me cry," she apologized.

Burnett was seemingly overcome by emotion in March 2022 while she spoke to Serhiy Perebyinis, a Ukrainian man who learned his two children had been killed by Russian shelling in an agonizing way. "I saw a photo on Twitter and I recognized my children," he revealed. "I recognized their things and their clothes." Perebyinis also lost his wife and as he shared his fondest memories of his family, Burnett again placed her emotions on full display, choking up and failing to hold back her tears.

CNN has been rocked by various news anchor scandals but Erin Burnett has not been among them. In fact, she has consistently been one of the network's least controversial hosts. And yet, back in 2021, she was bombarded with a barrage of scary death threats that lasted for months. As CBC reported at the time, a man from British Columbia, Canada named Nicholas Ryan Hedgecoe Sullivan was first flagged by police in May 2021 after threatening to kill Burnett, as well as her family and colleagues.

Sullivan then spent months posting more hate towards Burnett, using fake accounts and anonymous handles. One particularly terrifying proclamation included, per CBC, "It's the middle of the day on a Monday and all I can think about is how much I want to kill Erin Burnett and her family." Sullivan was subsequently visited by police twice, both in May 2021 and March 2022, but denied any wrongdoing. "I just rant like everyone else," he reportedly said. "I'm not a credible threat."

It didn't stop him, however, and Sullivan was ultimately arrested in July 2022. That November, he was charged with five counts of uttering death threats via Twitter and YouTube.