Fox News star anchor Megyn Kelly has reportedly accused her former boss Roger Ailes of making sexually inappropriate comments to her and later sexually harassing her shortly after she first joined the cable news network in 2005.
Radar Online reports that Kelly has made a last-minute addition to her forthcoming first memoir, Settle For More, in which the anchor alleges that Ailes physically harassed her in his New York office and then hinted she could be fired if she didn’t give in to his alleged advances.
Kelly said the alleged harassment began in 2005, shortly after she was hired as a legal correspondent at the network.
“Roger began pushing the limits. There was a pattern to his behavior,” Kelly accuses in her memoir. “I would be called into Roger’s office, he would shut the door, and over the next hour or two, he would engage in a kind of cat-and-mouse game with me — veering between obviously inappropriate sexually charged comments (e.g. about the ‘very sexy bras’ I must have and how he’d like to see me in them) and legitimate professional advice.”
Kelly also alleges that in January 2006, Ailes “crossed a new line” by repeatedly trying to grab her and kiss her on the lips. When she refused, Kelly alleges Ailes asked her: “When is your contract up?”
Kelly’s book further alleges that when former Fox personality Gretchen Carlson came forward with a sexual harassment lawsuit against Ailes earlier this summer, the executive attempted to enlist Kelly to defend him.
“There was no way I was going to lie to protect him,” Kelly writes in her book, according to Radar.
An attorney for Ailes, Susan Estrich, released a statement denying the allegations.
“Roger Ailes has never sexually harassed Megyn Kelly,” Estrich said. “In fact, he has spent much of the last decade promoting and helping her to achieve the stardom she earned, for which she has repeatedly and publicly thanked him.”
Kelly is currently in the the final months of her contract with Fox News, and is reportedly seeking a $20 million per year contract renewal to remain at the network.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum
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