Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly has said she was sexually harassed by embattled executive Roger Ailes as a young reporter, New York Magazine reported Tuesday.
Kelly, whose forceful questioning of Donald Trump put her front-and-center in the presidential primaries, is the highest-profile employee to say she was harassed by Ailes. The Fox News executive is reportedly facing an imminent ouster amid a sexual harassment lawsuit from former employee Gretchen Carlson and an ongoing investigation being conducted on behalf of Fox’s parent company 21st Century Fox.
Kelly told investigators at the law firm Paul, Weiss that Ailes had harassed her ten years ago while she was a young reporter in the network’s Washington, D.C. bureau, according to New York Magazine. New York Magazine reported that Kelly shared the experiences in detail with the investigators, though sources to the magazine did not disclose the extent or severity of the harassment.
A former lawyer, Kelly quickly rose through the ranks and joined Bill O’Reilly’s show before eventually landing in her current prime-time slot with The Kelly File. The anchor is currently renegotiating her contract with Fox.
New York Magazine previously reported that Rupert Murdoch and his sons planned to remove Ailes from his position in light of initial conclusions from the sexual harassment investigation, and that they had given him until the beginning of August to resign or be fired.
Kelly has publicly remained silent about others’ allegations against Ailes, and she was criticized anonymously to the Daily Beast for not supporting Ailes in the press, New York Magazine reported. Several other Fox employees have backed Ailes publicly.
But former company employees who had signed non-disclosure agreements on Ailes in the past are now being allowed to talk to investigators after the company waived those agreements, New York Magazine reported.
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