Tragic Details About Former Fox News Host Jeanine Pirro

Judge Jeanine Pirro is one of Fox News' richest (now former) anchors, and she also seems to live an extremely lavish life, but that doesn't mean her life has always been a walk in the park. Sadly for Jeanine, the now-U.S. Attorney for D.C. has faced a ton of sad moments over the years — from an oftentimes difficult marriage, to professional scandals and letdowns — and to make matters worse, many times, these problems have played out very publicly. 

We'll start with Jeanine's marriage to Albert "Al" Pirro. Wed in 1975, the couple faced a ton of storms from the late '80s right through to the early aughts. For one, in 1986, while Jeanine was in the running for lieutenant governor of New York, questions were raised about some of Al's business associates. As was noted by The New York Times, Al was unwilling to disclose who he worked with and who his clients were, and two days after becoming the official Republican candidate for the position, she stepped down. The New York Times later noted that there had been questions about Al working in the garbage business because of its long ties to the mafia. 

Unfortunately, 1986 wasn't the last time Al's dealings would have a negative impact on his then-wife's career ambitions. Though she became the Westchester district attorney in 1993, in 1997, Al was accused of bribery, and two years later, he was accused of tax fraud. In 2002, he was found guilty of the tax fraud, and that November, he was sentenced to 29 months in prison. Naturally, many questioned why, given her position, Jeanine hadn't picked anything up. However, as she told The New York Times, "This is not the 1950s. I don't stand at the door and say to my husband, 'Honey, how was your day?'" Touché.

Sadly for Jeanine Pirro, as if her husband's business dealings and tax issues weren't already embarrassing enough, she also had another major issue to contend with in the mid-to-late '90s. This, after Albert Pirro was taken to court over child support... for a child he'd fathered with a mistress. 

The matter of Al's paternity was in and out of court between 1995 and 1998, and ultimately, after a DNA test, it was found he'd welcomed a child with another woman — and he'd done so after having been married to Jeanine for years. Speaking to The New York Times on the matter, Jeanine didn't hide the fact that the situation had been heartbreaking for her. "When he admitted he had been with this woman 16 years ago, I had a lot of trouble dealing with it," she said. Sadly, Jeanine couldn't avoid hearing about it, as the scandal was all over the news. That said, she threw herself into work  and made it clear she wasn't going to talk about it when she had more important things to do. "Look, I'm human. I'm not saying that at times I don't hurt. But I'm not going to immerse myself in self-pity. Life goes on: deal with it," she told the outlet. 

In the same interview, Jeanine shared that her chief goal, after learning of Al's indiscretion, was to be there for her own children. She also shared that she'd asked her husband to run it by her beforehand if he decided to introduce them to his daughter. It's not clear if that ever happened. 

Despite staying with her husband in the wake of his infidelity and legal woes, the trust between them was irretrievably broken — and when Jeanine Pirro suspected Albert Pirro of having an affair in 2005, she called police commissioner-turned-private security consultant Bernie Kerrik to discuss the possibility of bugging his boat to catch him in the act. However, at the time of the phone call, Kerrik was being investigated by the Bronx district attorney, so the conversation was picked up by the authorities. As an aside, the tapes also picked up on Jeanine saying she believed she may have become governor if not for her husband's dealings over the years (and TBH, she might have been right). 

While it's likely Jeanine would have gotten in trouble for trying to have Al's boat bugged, things became infinitely worse when everything came out amid her run for New York attorney general. Jeanine was given a heads up that the FBI was investigating her, and she attempted to do damage control with a media briefing addressing the situation. There, Jeanine claimed that while she'd had the conversation, that had been the extent of it. "I was angry and had him followed to see if what I suspected was true. Although I thought about taping him, there was no wiretapping by me of anyone. There was anger and frustration, and nothing more," she said (via CBS News). 

Ultimately, Jeanine lost the AG election. More than that, though, she also had Al's complaints to contend with. In a joint 2006 interview with The New York Times, Al essentially blamed her for his infidelities and complained about the impact her career had on his. The couple separated the next year, and Jeanine officially divorced Al in 2013. 

One of the things Jeanine Pirro said in her joint New York Times interview with her now-ex-husband was that he'd long wanted her to quit public service and try something else. "For years, he's wanted me to go on television," she said (via the New York Post). Other than a few appearances, Jeanine didn't end up committing to TV until after separating from Albert Pirro. Sure enough, though, in 2008, she became a TV personality with her CW show, "Judge Jeanine Pirro." The show was successful early on, but unfortunately in 2011 the show's viewership dwindled, and it was canceled during its fourth season. She moved to Fox soon after, hosting "Justice with Judge Jeanine," which had a more than 10-year run.  

Of course, not all of Jeanine's TV work has been successful. On the contrary, in 2017, her show "You The Jury" was canceled almost immediately. As was reported by Deadline at the time, the interactive show, which had viewers serve as a jury, aired just two episodes when it was taken off the air. Making matters worse, Deadline also pointed out that the show's cancelation had gone almost completely unnoticed for weeks.

Cancelations aside, many will also remember "Justice with Judge Jeanine" being briefly taken off the air in 2019 after she questioned if Ilhan Omar wearing a hijab meant the Minnesota congresswoman followed Sharia law, which she deemed "antithetical to the United States constitution" (via ABC News). Understandably, Jeanine was widely called out for Islamophobia, and Fox even publicly condemned her comments. Several months later, she was heard on a hot mic during a radio interview with Sebastian Gorka saying she feared with one more strike, she'd be fired. Granted, we're not sure this counts as a sad detail so much as a valid consequence.  

While Jeanine Pirro spent most of the 2010s on-screen, she kept some aspects of her personal life incredibly private during that time. In fact, many were shocked when she revealed in a 2017 episode of "Justice with Judge Jeanine" that she had been diagnosed with cancer five years prior. Although Jeanine initially chose to hide her diagnosis — something many celebrities have done, and which is completely understandable — when she addressed it in 2017, she acknowledged that her treatment had been incredibly difficult on her. 

"I didn't talk about it. You didn't know about it. I just did my show every weekend. And in the end, as the chemotherapy treatments progressed, I was on-air talking to you, without my eyebrows, eyelashes, and wearing a wig," Jeanine said. She didn't share much else about her journey, using it only to explain how furious she was to learn that the U.S. was exporting uranium to Russia rather than developing it into Moly 99, which is used to diagnose cancer and other diseases. 

Luckily, Jeanine was diagnosed with cancer early enough for treatment. That said, at the time of this writing, Jeanine's specific type of cancer remains untold.

Heartbreakingly, Jeanine Pirro wasn't the only person in her family to have been diagnosed with cancer. The Fox personality shared in an April 2019 post to X, then Twitter, that her mother had died — and Graham Funeral Home revealed that Esther Ferris' cause of death had been pancreatic cancer. 

While Jeanine didn't share any details about her mother's cancer, she did share that she'd been with Ferris when she died. "My inspiration, hero, my mom, Esther Ferris passed this morning as I held her close," Jeanine wrote. She continued to ask that if anyone felt compelled to send anything, rather than flowers, she'd appreciate if they could make a donation to the Chemung County Humane Society and SPCA in Ferris' name. "My mother loved animals especially rescue animals," she shared. In a statement shared via the funeral home, Jeanine shared a few more details about her mom, who she called "my best friend." In particular, she hinted that it was thanks to her mom that she pursued the career she had. "My mother stood up for the victim, for the abused, before it was vogue. She was a great influence on me and everyone around her. She took care of the people who couldn't take care of themselves," Jeanine gushed, adding that Ferris had also been an avid hospital volunteer. 

Between loss, marriage drama, and major career setbacks, there's no question that Jeanine has been through a lot over the years. Through it all, though, she has persevered. As she said in a 2008 interview with The New York Times, "Life really is a series of ups and downs. I know. I've made the journey many times. And you don't look back and say what would've or could've or should've. You look forward."