Tucker Carlson

Carlson met his wife, Susan Andrews, while attending St. George's School in Rhode Island, where her father, Reverend George Andrews, served as headmaster. The couple became engaged six months before Carlson graduated from college and married in 1991 in the chapel of their former boarding school.

Carlson and his wife have four children: daughters Lillie, Hopie, and Dorothy, and a son, Buckley. In 2025, Buckley Carlson was appointed deputy press secretary to Vice President J.D. Vance. Carlson and his family belong to the Episcopal Church.

Carlson was born in San Francisco to Lisa McNear Lombardi Carlson, an artist, and Richard Warner Carlson, a media executive, former director of Voice of America, and later U.S. ambassador to the Seychelles. When Carlson was six years old, his mother left the family, and he and his younger brother, Buckley, were raised by their father in La Jolla, California. When Carlson was ten, his father married Patricia Swanson, whose family previously owned the Swanson food enterprise. Carlson attended St. George's School before earning a bachelor's degree in history from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1991.

After being rejected for employment by the Central Intelligence Agency, Carlson pursued journalism on his father's recommendation. He began his career as a fact-checker for Policy Review and wrote editorial pieces for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. In 1995, he joined The Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine co-founded by William Kristol. Carlson later contributed essays, profiles, and columns to publications including Esquire, The New Republic, Forbes, New York Magazine, The Atlantic, and The Wall Street Journal. His 2003 Esquire report on a delegation to Liberia with Al Sharpton received a National Magazine Award nomination.

Carlson made his television debut in 1995 during CBS coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial. In 2000, he began co-hosting the CNN program The Spin Room, and in 2001 he was named co-host of CNN's political debate show Crossfire alongside Democratic strategist Paul Begala. In October 2004, comedian Jon Stewart appeared on Crossfire and publicly criticized Carlson and Begala for practicing partisan political theater that harmed public discourse. CNN canceled Crossfire in January 2005.

Carlson subsequently joined MSNBC, hosting the nightly program Tucker from 2005 until 2008. During this era, MSNBC promoted his broadcast around his signature bow tie, which he publicly retired wearing in 2006. In the autumn of 2006, Carlson also competed on the third season of ABC's Dancing with the Stars, where he was eliminated in the opening round. In 2010, alongside his former Trinity College roommate Neil Patel, Carlson launched The Daily Caller, an online conservative news and commentary outlet. Carlson remained active with the site until June 2020, when he sold his stake to Patel.

Carlson joined Fox News Channel as a contributor and substitute host in 2009, eventually becoming a co-host of the weekend edition of Fox & Friends in 2013. In November 2016, following the presidential election, Fox News launched Tucker Carlson Tonight. The program grew rapidly in viewership, taking over the prime evening time slot previously held by Bill O'Reilly and consistently ranking among the highest-rated news broadcasts in cable television history, reaching monthly averages of more than five million viewers.

The show was frequently a source of national debate due to Carlson's commentary regarding immigration, race, social protests, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the course of the broadcast's run, multiple corporate sponsors withdrew advertising in response to his remarks. Following the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Carlson gave airtime to claims alleging manipulation of voting systems.

In April 2023, Fox News agreed to a $787.5 million legal settlement with Dominion Voting Systems regarding false election-fraud claims. During pre-trial discovery, internal text communications were released showing Carlson privately questioning election conspiracies, criticizing network executives, and discussing political figures. Days after the settlement was reached, Fox News announced it had severed ties with Carlson.

Following his departure from Fox News, Carlson transitioned his operations to independent streaming and digital platforms. He launched video monologues on the platform X under titles including Tucker on Twitter, founded the subscription platform Tucker Carlson Network, and established The Tucker Carlson Show, which became one of the top-performing podcast launches of 2024.

In February 2024, Carlson traveled to Moscow to conduct a two-hour sit-down interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, representing the first interview granted by the Russian leader to a Western media figure after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Later that year, Carlson delivered a prime-time address at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. In 2025, Carlson drew renewed controversy and criticism from both political opponents and conservative figures after hosting an interview with political commentator Nick Fuentes on his digital platform.