Megyn Kelly talks about how ‘demeaning’ it was having to ‘spin’ for former Fox News honcho Roger Ailes — as her husband tearfully looks on
Update: The full segment has now been released. See: Megyn Kelly calls out victim-shaming scene in 'Bombshell' but says, 'I do wish I had done more.'
Megyn Kelly has not only watched Bombshell, the film about sexual harassment in the workplace under former Fox News honcho Roger Ailes, but she did so with a handful of fellow Fox News alums “who lived it.”
The news personality teased a forthcoming video she produced showing her screening the film, in which she’s portrayed by Charlize Theron, with former Fox employees Juliet Huddy, Rudi Bakhtiar and Julie Zann. The women then sat down for an interview, conducted by Kelly, discussing being sexually harassed at the news network. They were joined in the emotional conversation by Kelly’s husband, Douglas Brunt, who was also portrayed in the film, and he became emotional hearing his wife recall having to do “the spin” for the enjoyment of Ailes.
The women discussed what they endured working under Ailes, who died in 2017 after being pushed out at the network amid the allegations. Kelly then asked the women if they had to do “the spin” — a twirl to show off their bodies to the exec when they visited his office, which was included in the film. Two of the women said they been asked to do it — and while one wasn’t, she said Ailes critiqued her body. Then Kelly was asked if she twirled for Ailes and admitted, regretfully, that she had.
“I was asked to do the spin… and God help me I did it,” Kelly admitted.
She went on to say, “I know people think ‘Oh, you had to spin around,’ but I remember feeling like: I put myself through school. I was offered partnership at Jones Day, one of the best law firms in the world. I argued before of federal courts of appeal all over the nation. I came here. I’m covering the United States Supreme Court. I graduated with honors from all of my programs. And now he wants me to twirl?! And I did it.”
Kelly admitted, “If you don’t get how demeaning that is, I can’t help you.”
Kelly’s husband since 2008, with whom she shares three children, was clearly emotional hearing his wife recount being harassed.
Ailes’s inappropriate workplace behavior was exposed publicly in 2016 when former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson — portrayed by Nicole Kidman in the film — filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against him. Days later, it was revealed that Kelly had told investigators Ailes made "unwanted sexual advances toward her" at the start of her career. She joined the network in 2004 and left in 2017.
“I wasn’t sure if I wanted to say anything re Bombshell, a film re sex harass. at Fox,” Kelly tweeted on Thursday. “But in the end I wanted the women who lived it to have the last word. A group of us got together & watched, cried, & set the record straight.”
The full segment will be released at 4 p.m. ET.
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