Megyn Kelly covers this week’s Adweek for our annual Hot List. We chatted with Kelly, who can now add Best Selling author to her resume, in the midst of multiple TV news interviews as she began the book tour for Settle for More. In the wide-ranging interview, Kelly opened up about the 2016 election, what 2017 will hold and her role in the investigation that brought down Roger Ailes.
Adweek: After Gretchen Carlson filed her sexual harassment lawsuit against [Ailes], you write about that moment that made you pick up the phone to call Lachlan Murdoch and tell him how Ailes harassed you, all of which Ailes continues to deny.
There’s no question that I was in a position where I had to choose between my ethics and my loyalty to Roger. And it was clear. The choice was clear. [When the harassment happened first in 2005] I really felt like my career was on the line and I knew I would never compromise myself. So I was very worried that my job was going to go away. The situation is so tricky to navigate. I feel for the women out there who are dealing with it right now.
Adweek: If he had made it through the investigation and kept his job, do you think you would have been more inclined to go somewhere else?
If it had just been Gretchen’s lawsuit and nobody else came forward and Fox exonerated him that might have been a different story. When I saw Gretchen’s lawsuit it wasn’t like I said ‘ah, yes, this is who he is!’ It was when I saw The Daily Beast later that day, quoting three anonymous former Fox News employees. And as soon as I read that I knew. I just knew he had never stopped. Let’s just say I’m glad it didn’t work out that way because to me it was very clear when I read those reports that mine was not the only story.
Adweek: And then on the second night of the RNC, it’s leaked that you had talked to the outside investigators which was really the end of Roger Ailes at Fox. How did that feel?
I was livid. I was livid. I don’t know to this day who leaked that. That was my private information that I shared with my company for the good of the women at my company.
