Fox News paid ex-host Kimberly Guilfoyle‘s assistant over $4 million in hush money, according to a recent New York Times expose on Guilfoyle’s history of sexual misconduct. Guilfoyle’s assistant alleged that she had been repeatedly assaulted by the Fox host and Eric Bolling, Guilfoyle’s coworker at the time.
The controversy around Guilfoyle first began in 2018, when she abruptly left Fox News and HuffPost reported that an investigation into her inappropriate behavior in the workplace had begun. At the time, Fox News did not release a statement on her reason for leaving, and her attorney dismissed the allegations against her. Despite Guilfoyle’s insistence that she left the company voluntarily, it has become apparent that Fox News forced her out.
The accusations that Guilfoyle has lodged against her from her Fox assistant, who chose to remain anonymous, encompass a range of abusive behavior. Guilfoyle allegedly repeatedly degraded the assistant, forced her to reside with Guilfoyle while she was often naked at both her New York apartment and on business trips, talked to her in great detail about her sex life, showed her photos of her sexual partners’ genitalia, demanded massages and sexual favors from her, and encouraged her to have intercourse with others in the company.
The assistant’s case against Guilfoyle, however, did not come as a surprise – least of all to Guilfoyle herself. In 2017, HuffPost similarly exposed coworker Bolling for harassing multiple female colleagues, causing his ousting from Fox News. The assistant now accusing Guilfoyle was allegedly one of Bolling’s numerous victims, and when Bolling started to come under fire, Guilfoyle preemptively offered her assistant a $1million in hush money, a trip to Rome, a percentage of Guilfoyle’s income, and air time. The assistant declined the offers.
Guilfoyle responded to the 2020 charges against her in a statement to the New York Times.
“In my 30-year career working for the SF District Attorney’s Office, the LA District Attorney’s Office, in media and in politics, I have never engaged in any workplace misconduct of any kind,” she said. “During my career, I have served as a mentor to countless women, with many of whom I remain exceptionally close to this day.”
Fox News declined to comment.
Now, after several years of being mentioned as President Donald Trump‘s potential press secretary, Guilfoyle is on the finance committee for the Trump Victory Committee. She also serves as one of Trump’s advisors, spoke at the Republican National Convention, and is dating Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr. President Trump himself has repeatedly spotlighted her as proof of his female voting base, putting her on his “Four More Tour” and having her speak at “Women for Trump” rallies.
Spokespeople for the Trump campaign have also declined to comment.
