The Tragedy Of Fox News Anchor Martha MacCallum Is Just Sad

Martha MacCallum is known for reporting the news, but every once in a while, she's opened up about her own life. And, while those revelations are certainly few and far between, there have also been a few instances when what she has shared has been downright sad. 

We'll start with MacCallum's family history. Back in 2020, she published her book "Unknown Valor: A Story of Family, Courage and Sacrifice from Pearl Harbor to Iwo Jima." It explored the real lives of men who fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima, and she's been very open about the fact that a family member who died in the battle inspired it. The family member in question — Harry Gray — was her mom's cousin, though as MacCallum explained on Fox News, "He was like a brother to her." 

MacCallum first learned about Gray as a teenager when her mother shared some of the letters he'd sent her during the war. Right away, MacCallum felt a close connection. It also put into perspective all the real people he wrote about, as well as the fact that he was just a teenager himself. "I was so moved by this young man's letters, and of course I never had the opportunity to meet him," she told Woman's World. Even so, she felt compelled to share his story with the world, and years down the line, she did that in her book. One particularly touching detail about her writing process is that it allowed her to meet with some of the men who had served alongside Gray at the time of his death. In doing so, she was able to not just honor his memory but also give some closure to those who had known and loved Gray. A family heartbreak come full circle.

Shifting gears to tragic aspects of Martha MacCallum's own life, as some may know, the Fox anchor initially wanted to be an actor and even studied at the prestigious Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York. However, she joked to The Hollywood Reporter that she didn't get a whole lot of gigs, and when a waitress she was working alongside would share stories about her own day job at CNN, MacCallum's interest was piqued. Soon enough, she found herself in a different line of work with much more success. However, that's not to say she didn't face struggles in her new career. 

Speaking to Woman's World about her younger years in journalism, MacCallum admitted, "I remember feeling the importance of an interview or feeling something we had to get on the air was so important that there were times you would just feel like crying. It felt so stressful." With that in mind, MacCallum added that part of her wished she could go back and tell herself there was no need to get quite as overwhelmed. "I would tell my younger self not to sweat the small stuff, that everything eventually gets on the air," she said. MacCallum added that she'd love to be able to tell the younger version of herself that failure wasn't the end of the world, either. So long as she'd taken her work seriously, she coached her younger self, "You have to let the failures and slip-ups go. It's all part of the process of becoming wiser about what you do." 

Aside from acquiring that wisdom over time, MacCallum told Woman's World that staying active and meditation had gone a long way in keeping her centered, even in a stressful job. 

Other than the stresses of the job, one thing Martha MacCallum has struggled with a lot in her career is being belittled based on what she looks like. That was something she voiced in a 2017 op-ed for Time.

ICYMI, in 2017, commentator David Horsey wrote a scathing piece for the Los Angeles Times on the beauty standards for women in Donald Trump's orbit. In addition to having some very unkind things to say about Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Horsey made some controversial remarks about how late Fox founder Roger Ailes selected female journalists for the network. In a nutshell, Horsey described them as "blond Barbie dolls in short, tight skirts." Understandably, MacCallum was furious about the insinuation that she and her colleagues were only in their positions because of what they looked like and took him to task. While she acknowledged that Horsey had apologized to Huckabee Sanders, she wrote, "The women of Fox News — commodified as 'Blonde Barbie Dolls' — also deserve a public apology." 

MacCallum went on to point out how offensive it was to be reduced to a pretty object when she and her colleagues were well-established journalists. She also outlined many of her own accomplishments, highlighting how long she'd been in the business and just how successful she'd been. "Our success is not about hair color or skirts. It's about elbow grease, dedication and sacrificing time with our family and friends," she wrote. It's never been made public if Horsey did give MacCallum a personal apology. However, at the time of her Time piece, he had not — though in an interview on "Megyn Kelly Today" (pre-the show's cancellation, of course), he gave a broad apology and admitted that his words had been rooted in sexism. 

Other than calling out David Horsey for his comments, Martha MacCallum also used her Time op-ed to make a heartbreaking revelation. As she wrote toward the end of the piece, she'd been on the receiving end of harassment when she was just starting out as a journalist.

"Early in my career, I was subjected to harassment in the form of some unwelcome suggestive comments and overtures. It was ugly and if ever I felt like I was being perceived as a 'Barbie Doll,' it was then," she wrote. MacCallum has never expanded on what happened. She also hasn't said anything about where she had been working at the time, which is entirely her prerogative. One thing she did clarify, though, is that the situation had been handled swiftly. On that, the Fox star wrote, "I'm grateful that I was able to shut it down and move on."

Even if the harassment MacCallum experienced was dealt with right away, she nonetheless expressed concern over the fact that harassment has continued in many other workplaces in the years since. "It saddens me that it still goes on in such a widespread way, long after the days of 'Mad Men'-esque office cultures and casting couches," she wrote. As such, she mused that she hoped more attention on the matter would bring about meaningful change. In particular, the Fox personality wrote that she hoped her daughter from her marriage to Daniel John Gregory, or any young women for that matter, wouldn't ever have to go through it. However, if they did, she hoped they felt more empowered to speak out. And, it should be noted, empowered to speak out without fear of retribution. 

Of course, no discussion about Martha MacCallum's views on workplace sexual harassment would be complete without taking into account her response to what was undoubtedly Fox News' biggest scandal ever. That would be the multiple Fox employees, including Gretchen Carlson and later Megyn Kelly, who accused Roger Ailes of sexual harassment. From the start, MacCallum made it clear that she had never heard anything about it. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, she said that though there was always gossip in the workplace, nothing brought to her attention ever suggested there had been any foul play. "Nothing like sexual harassment or impeding someone's career. No. I would put that in a whole different category from anything that I have ever heard," she told the outlet. As such, she was shocked by the allegations. 

MacCallum later doubled down on that in an interview with WWD. She also acknowledged that a lot of critics had questioned if she really never knew what had been going on, but she confirmed that she hadn't. "I think there were a lot of people who had that attitude, 'How could you not know?' And I think that since then, it's happened at so many other places across the country, from Hollywood to NBC to CBS, and I do think that there are plenty of people who had a similar reaction when it happened where they worked," she said. MacCallum also admitted that she hadn't wanted to believe it was true at first. "There was definitely a reality check with a lot of that," she said. 

Even so, she also said Ailes was a complex character and that she nonetheless had many good memories of working with him. Perhaps because of that, MacCallum gave an on-air tribute to Ailes after he died aged 77. 

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).