Gone from Today but not out of the public eye, Megyn Kelly is opening up about her family holiday traditions and her bittersweet Christmas memories — a month after NBC canceled the 48-year-old’s show, Megyn Kelly Today, following her comments on blackface.
“My dad died ten days before Christmas 1985,” the former anchor revealed to DailyMailTV. “He was 45, and I was 15. It was a sudden heart attack, and it changed my family forever. My last sight of him was of him sitting on the couch, looking at the Christmas tree.”
She added, “What I wouldn’t give now to have that moment back. To have just one more chance to tell him how much I love him.”
Since then, Kelly has been able to find the joy of the season along with novelist husband Doug Brunt and their three children: Yates, 9, Yardley 7, and Thatcher, 5.
“We play It’s a Wonderful Life and treat it like the Rocky Horror Picture Show with full audience participation — we hiss when Mr. Potter comes on, ring bells when Clarence is on screen, and ‘hee haw’ with Sam Wainwright.”
The former Fox News host also revealed her favorite Christmas carol: “‘Silent Night’ has sentimental meaning to my husband Doug and me — I will never, ever forget holding my oldest child, Yates, on my lap at Christmas Eve mass when he was 4. He had learned the song in school, and in a candlelit church with decorations all around and the choir singing, Yates, in that sweet, innocent voice only a child has, softly sang every word. I can’t hear it to this day without crying.”
Kelly lost her job hosting Today’s third hour on October 26 after expressing offensive views on blackface three days prior. “What is racist?” she asked during a panel discussion on the NBC morning show during the infamous moment. “You truly do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface at Halloween or a black person who puts on white face … That was OK when I was a kid, as long as you were dressing like a character.”
Three days later, an NBC News spokesperson told Us Weekly that Megyn Kelly Today would not be returning, and Kelly’s lawyer informed Us that the TV personality “remains an employee of NBC News and discussions about next steps are continuing.”
Kelly “was forced out by management,” a source told Us at the time, adding, “This is only just beginning to sink in for Megyn because it happened so quickly.”
