9 Rumors About Ainsley Earhardt And Sean Hannity's Relationship We Couldn't Ignore

The much-publicized romance between Fox News anchors Sean Hannity and Ainsley Earhardt has generated a smorgasbord of rumors for years, long before it was officially announced in April 2023. Hannity joined Fox News when it debuted in 1996 and is the last original host to remain on the network after three decades, somehow surviving the onslaught of allegations that sank so many of his colleagues. In fact, Hannity and Earhardt's 2024 engagement might even seem sweet compared to the den of debauchery behind the scenes at Fox News. While touting family values and conservative morals, the talking heads over at Fox News have often failed to note the proverbial plank in their own collective eye.

For instance, Jesse Watters cheated on his former wife with a producer on his show (his current wife), and Pete Hegseth cheated on his former wife (and fathered a child) with one of his producers. Francisco Cortes, Roger Ailes, Bill O'Reilly, Ed Henry, Eric Bolling, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and others have left Fox amidst sexual assault or harassment allegations, and Tucker Carlson, Howard Kurtz, and Hannity himself have all been sued for sexual harassment. As Fox anchor Andrea Tantaros stated in her lawsuit against the network (per The L.A. Times), "Fox News masquerades as a defender of traditional family values, but behind the scenes, it operates like a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency, and misogyny." With that in mind, it is understandable why numerous rumors have circulated surrounding Hannity and Earhardt's suspicious relationship.

On June 11, 2020, Vanity Fair published the first legitimate (yet still denied) reporting that Sean Hannity and Ainsley Earhardt were dating ("and have been for quite some time," as four staff members at Fox News told the outlet). A former executive at Fox recounted, "Hannity emerged from the chopper with Ainsley Earhardt, and they made this grand entrance together. People were like, 'Wow, okay.'" Ironically, the two were attending the wedding of Pete Hegseth and Jennifer Rauchet, who began their affair while both were still married.

The same day of the Vanity Fair scoop, People published their own report about Earhardt and Hannity. "[They've] been seeing each other very secretively for years," a source told People, while another alleged, "It's been an open secret that they have been seeing each other." Earhardt initially responded to the claims with the statement, "Right now I am focused on raising my daughter. As anyone at Fox News will tell you, Sean is a wonderful person and whomever he chooses to date will be extremely fortunate." She was more unequivocal in her later statement: "I am not dating anyone." Hannity did not deny anything but simply stated, "I do not discuss my personal life in public." Earhardt joined Fox News in 2007, and one of her first jobs was appearing on Hannity's show with the segment, "Ainsley Across America." So while the couple denied dating at the time, the timeline of the rumor checked out.

The potentially scandalous timeline of Sean Hannity and Ainsley Earhardt's relationship has spawned the most rumors regarding the couple, and for good reason. Their respective divorces would come under new scrutiny if they had begun seeing each other at an earlier date. There's a rumor that Hannity and Earhardt's relationship began years prior to 2020, as indicated by the aforementioned reporting from People. The rumor suggests the couple began their affair while both were still married; Hannity was married to Jill Rhodes, and Earhardt was married to Will Proctor. Interestingly, both finalized their divorces in 2019. Coincidence?

Earhardt confirmed that she and Proctor had split in an exclusive with The Daily Mail, which also quoted supposed "friends" of the Fox host in accusing Proctor of adultery. The day after that piece ran, Proctor told The Daily Mail, "There is not one ounce of truth to the allegation that I had an affair. ... I remain focused on and committed to being the best dad, and maintaining a friendship with my wife even though she has decided to move on." In fact, Proctor was the one to file for divorce. His settlement with Earhardt forbids them from discussing the details of the divorce, which raises even further speculation. News of Hannity's divorce from Rhodes was leaked to Page Six on June 3, 2020, just a week before People and Vanity Fair reported his rumored relationship with Earhardt. Just another coincidence?

Ainsley Earhardt and Sean Hannity's relationship timeline raised questions about how long they had been secretly dating and whether they were violating Fox News' HR regulations in the process. Months after the pair's engagement was announced at the end of 2024, Earhardt told The Daily Mail that the pair sought permission from their "boss" at Fox News when they first decided to date. "We asked our boss first," she recounted. "I said, 'I really want your support because I'm crazy about this guy. We are very close because we work together, and I trust him, and I know him so well.'" She also stated, "I didn't know Sean had gone through a divorce at first. Nobody did. It was very private. I only found out when we started comparing notes and stories because he knew I had gone through mine."

However, it's unlikely that Earhardt and Hannity began a relationship between the time Hannity's divorce was announced (on June 3, 2020) and just eight days later, when rumors spread that they were dating. So when did their relationship begin, and did they inform their employers at Fox News, where mandatory disclosure of interoffice relationships is the official policy? According to reporting by People and Page Six, the two had likely been seeing each other while still married, so it's very possible they would not have come forward to their bosses about their relationship.

While still an unverified rumor, many believe that Ainsley Earhardt spent much of her 2020 quarantine with Sean Hannity, using a recording studio in the basement of his $10.5 million Long Island mansion to co-host her Fox News show. One source told Page Six on June 11, 2020, "Ainsley rented a house on the North Shore near Sean's home during the pandemic. Sean has a studio at his home, and Ainsley has been using his studio as her remote broadcast location for 'Fox & Friends.'" Another source added, "Sean and Ainsley have been together for a while, they are quarantining together in Oyster Bay."

Of course, that was before Hannity left New York for Florida, where he is "loved." In April 2021, Hannity purchased a $5 million townhouse just miles away from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago compound, one of several properties he owns in Florida. "I had a hard time going to a restaurant in New York City because people would stare at me, and hated me, and they had daggers in their eyes," Hannity said during his radio show (per The Daily Beast). Earhardt and Hannity have thus spent the past four years in a supposed long-distance relationship, seeing each other mostly on the weekends. "It's not conventional. We live on opposite ends of the East Coast, but when you love someone, you make it work," Earhardt told The Daily Mail.

Ainsley Earhardt and Sean Hannity announced their engagement just after Christmas 2024, when Hannity reportedly proposed to Earhardt in a Florida church. Earhardt was back in New York the next week for work, and the couple intended to remain 1,200 miles apart even through marriage. "I love my time with Sean in Palm Beach," Earhardt told The Daily Mail, explaining that she and her daughter Hayden spend the weekends at Hannity's $23.5 million Florida compound. "We always do a family brunch after church on Sunday and then Hayden and I fly back. I love my New York life too."

Earhardt has been adamant that she has no plans to leave New York, which means she'll be accruing more frequent flyer miles. It's seemingly one-sided — Hannity rarely gives her a break from traveling, insisting that she come to him (despite Hannity owning a 2004 Gulfstream G200 private jet). The long distance isn't the only red flag in their relationship, with some commenting that the couple has less chemistry than a Fox News panel. Their 15-year age gap doesn't help those rumors that the marriage may not last; Hannity is 63, and Earhardt is 48. They are both workaholics as well, which partially explains their combined three divorces. Earhardt divorced Kevin McKinney in 2009 and Will Proctor in 2019.

Ainsley Earhardt and Sean Hannity's relationship is also complicated by her desire to have more children, something which might not be in the cards for him. Earhardt has a nine-year-old daughter named Hayden, but told People that she "definitely would" have more children. She added, "I've never said this publicly, but I have frozen my eggs, so I am prepared if I decide to have more children. I had Hayden so late in my life, and I'm in my 40s, so I would be open to that 1,000 percent." Hannity has two adult children from his marriage to Jill Rhodes: Merri Kelly, 24, and Sean Patrick Hannity, 26. While it's certainly not out of the question, it's unlikely that 61-year-old Hannity would have a child with Earhardt.

This potential impasse between Earhardt and Hannity may not be a big deal if it weren't for the fact that the younger "Fox & Friends" co-host prioritizes her daughter (and children in general) above just about everything else. She's a poster child for motherhood, having devoted years to writing about children and parenting with two books, "Take Heart, My Child: A Mother's Dream" in 2016 and "Through Your Eyes: My Child's Gift to Me" in 2017. Beyond the pictures within them, the Simon & Schuster books illustrate that Earhardt is bonkers for babies, something which does not appear to be wholly reciprocated by Hannity.

Sean Hannity seems to prefer brownstones over babies. In fact, he has spent at least $90 million on 870 homes across seven states, properties purchased through 20 of Hannity's shell companies. His secretive real estate empire, which reflects one of the many shady sides of Sean Hannity, was uncovered when The Guardian reported on the Fox host's legal relationship with notorious "legal fixer" Michael Cohen. The former lawyer of Donald Trump was ordered by a judge to reveal his clients, and after initially refusing, Cohen was forced to unveil his connection to Sean Hannity. "I have occasionally had brief discussions with him about legal questions about which I wanted his input and perspective," Hannity admitted on X (per The Daily Beast),

This is significant because of Cohen's history with paying out hush money to keep his clients' extramarital affairs from reaching the public, most infamously with Trump and Stormy Daniels, but also with Republican fundraiser Elliot Broidy and a Playboy model he pushed to have an abortion. As such, rumors spread that Hannity employed Cohen for the same reasons. After all, he became Cohen's client around the time conservative pundit Debbie Schlussel accused Hannity of trying to lure her to his hotel room and then "blackballing" her from his show when she refused his "creepy and inappropriate" advancements, per NBC. Or was Hannity paying to keep his relationship with Ainsley Earhardt a secret?

The most interesting and substantive rumors about Ainsley Earhardt and Sean Hannity's relationship arguably originated from one unlikely source — journalist Brian Stelter's research for his 2020 book, "Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth." Milquetoast but generally respected, Stelter was doing fact-checking for a book he was writing about Fox News, and he believes this digging around was the impetus for Hannity to announce his divorce form Jill Rhodes on June 3, 2020, and for the bevy of reporting on June 11 that Hannity and Earhardt were dating. 

That day, Stelter wrote on X, "Last year, a source for my book mentioned Hannity was separated from his wife, assuming I already knew. Other sources confirmed it. Some said the gossip about Hannity & Earhardt was an 'open secret," so much so that "Fox & Friends" staffers wondered whether I'd report on it."

"I'm in book fact-checking mode, so last Tuesday I spoke with Fox News PR about Hannity's separation and the Earhardt whispers. I expected the info to leak in a way favorable to Hannity. Sure enough, Page Six ran a story revealing Hannity's divorce the next day," wrote Stelter. "The timing might have seemed odd to readers.

With Brian Stelter's reporting in mind, a kind of grand conspiratorial rumor forms about Sean Hannity and Ainsley Earhardt. Taking everything into account, a more suspicious potential timeline of their relationship emerges. The couple had been somewhat involved for years prior to 2020. This means they were likely seeing each other while both were married. It's possible that their spouses discovered this, which could be why, in 2018, Hannity hired Michael Cohen, who specialized in extramarital hush-ups. This could also be why Earhardt's husband was the one who filed for divorce in 2018 (and why her 2019 divorce settlement stipulates absolute silence from both parties).

It's possible that Stelter's fact-checking process dredged this up, which was possibly why Hannity's team announced his divorce on June 3, 2020, just a week before Vanity Fair, People, and Page Six reported on his relationship with Earhardt. It may be that Hannity and Earhardt never even meant for their relationship to be an actual "relationship," that they were simply having an affair; after all, they certainly haven't acted like a couple, continuing to live 1,200 miles away from each other. They only officially confirmed their relationship three long years after the June 2020 reporting, giving The Daily Mail an exclusive with some awkward photographs of the couple in April 2023. They announced their engagement in December 2024 and have yet to set a date. So maybe the biggest rumor about their relationship is that it never really was one, just another Fox affair.