The Untold Truth Of Andrea Mitchell
If you've ever watched NBC News, then chances are you're already familiar with Andrea Mitchell. In case you aren't, though, allow us to fill you in. Mitchell has worked at the network since the 1970s, eventually working her way up to Chief Foreign Correspondent, a position she's held since 1994. When she's not reporting on trouble abroad, Mitchell hosts her own show, "Andrea Mitchell Reports," on MSNBC.
It sounds like a lot of work, but Mitchell truly loves what she does, even when it's difficult. "What I keep doing is drawing on the experience I have that goes back to Philadelphia in the 1960s and 1970s. It's what hardened me as a reporter and made me want to sort of stand up to authorities," she told Glamour in 2021. "Not to be confrontational, but to be challenging. I think to be adversarial is a good thing. That's what our job is."
Mitchell has been confrontational; she's been an outspoken critic of Donald Trump and was once even forcibly removed by security while questioning the President of Sudan. We've got all the deets on that little international news scandal in the story of Mitchell's fascinating life and career.
Andrea Mitchell had a typical childhood
Andrea Mitchell may have spent her adult life traveling the world interviewing politicians, but her upbringing was surprisingly humble. Mitchell was born and raised in New Rochelle, New York. Her childhood was middle class, with her mother working in an administrative position at the New York Institute of Technology. Her father was in the furniture manufacture business as CEO and founder of the Loroman Company. Additionally, he was the head of the Beth El Synagogue in Mitchell's hometown (per The New York Times). Eventually, Mitchell went outside of New York for college, opting to attend the University of Pennsylvania.
When asked why she chose UPenn, during an NBC News interview, Mitchell recalled that "a great English literature program" was on her wish list, along with a strong music program for her violin study — she quipped that she wanted "as little math as possible." What's more impressive, though, is that Mitchell actually attended college at just 16, skipping her senior year of high school.
College is where Mitchell really found her passion. Thanks to her love of music, she began working on the school radio station to develop a classical music program, eventually covering national politics and deepening her love of journalism. The rest is history.
She has a high net worth
As a foreign correspondent, Andrea Mitchell spends a lot of time on the road. It's hard, grueling work that's landed its reporters in trouble both at home and abroad. Sure, that might not be the best pitch to get you to quit your day job and pursue a career in journalism, but you might change your mind when you see Mitchell's salary. As of 2021, she's making about $750,000 a year (per Celebrity Net Worth), which likely makes those long hours worth it. Mitchell's years of hard work, plus the sales of her book, add up to an estimated net worth of $5 million, a totally respectable sum that becomes even more enviable when you realize that her husband, Alan Greenspan, is worth an estimated $20 million.
Mitchell is one of the most respected women in journalism today, but that doesn't mean that she has consistently been paid equally among her male colleagues. When interviewing Barbara Comstock (Mitt Romney's senior advisor) in 2012, Mitchell wasn't shy about acknowledging that MSNBC paid women less than their male colleagues. "We know here at MSNBC the guys get paid more," Comstock reportedly said (via Politico). "We certainly do," Mitchell replied. The journalist told Politico that her comment was "taken out of context" as she "was referring to the industry as a whole."
Andrea Mitchell had a serious health scare
In 2011, Andrea Mitchell had to take some time away from her busy professional life to deal with a personal crisis. Mitchell was going to take a vacation but canceled at the last minute when she was diagnosed with cancer. "I had planned to be hiking in Wyoming last week, but instead discovered that I am now among the 1 in 8 women in this country — incredibly 1 in 8 — who have had breast cancer," Mitchell said during an on-air segment (via NBC News). Luckily for Mitchell, the cancer was caught early enough that she had a "terrific" prognosis, though she did not elaborate on her treatment plan.
"Mine was discovered during my annual screening just a short time ago," she explained. The correspondent added, "I'm looking at this as another of life's lessons. For you women out there and the men who love you, screening matters. Do it. This disease can be completely curable if you find it at the right time."
10 years later, Mitchell spoke with Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Amy Klobuchar on the field of a charity women's softball game for breast cancer awareness month. "My story is that I was at the Iowa caucus and sat down to interview Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz, and I had just flunked my mammogram but had not had a chance to get treatment, I had to go right to Iowa," Mitchell shared (via MSNBC), emphasizing the importance of early detection.
Andrea Mitchell found the love of her life
The road to true love wasn't necessarily easy for Andrea Mitchell. After she and her first husband divorced, Mitchell eventually met the true love of her life, Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve (who is nearly 20 years her senior). After meeting, Mitchell and Greenspan decided to take things slowly. It took them 12 years to finally take the plunge and say "I do" (per The Washington Post). Their lavish wedding was well worth the wait. Nearly anyone who's anyone in Washington, D.C., was there, including Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell, Barbara Walters, and Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who performed the ceremony.
For Greenspan and Mitchell, though, the day was about love, not a "who's who" of D.C. Attendees noted that the normally stoic Greenspan seemed overcome with emotion that day and surprised his guests by giving Mitchell a noticeably long kiss during the ceremony. The party ended with a sweet toast from Greenspan about his new bride: "I intend to make her happy and I will succeed" (via The Washington Post).
The reporter has won awards
When it comes to her career, Andrea Mitchell's work ethic is unparalleled. "She is someone who is so passionate, and she perseveres, and she doesn't back down. She is still the one to beat," Mitchell's colleague Kristen Welker told Glamour. "The other reporters would be like, 'Oh, God, Andrea's here, I have got to get to the rope line.'"
Since beginning her journalism career in college, Mitchell has gone from student reporter to correspondent at NBC, which is pretty impressive. To Mitchell, it's all worth it, though, because she truly loves what she does. "I love journalism on the highest level of working to communicate big ideas and explain to people how their government is functioning or not functioning, but also just chasing a lead, a little fact, a nugget to fill out a piece, add some color, find the human interest angle," Mitchell told Glamour. "It's just all fascinating."
Her passion hasn't gone unnoticed, either. Mitchell is both highly respected and awarded in her field. Case in point: in 2019, she won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the News and Documentary Emmys (via The Hill). During the ceremony, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences CEO and President Adam Sharp said of Mitchell: "For more than 50 years, she has illuminated Americans' understanding of domestic politics and international affairs, building esteem and trust with colleagues, world leaders, and most importantly, the viewers she informs,” adding, "She is an icon."
The scandal she caused in Sudan
Andrea Mitchell has never been one to not speak her mind. Her tenaciousness got her in a bit of trouble in 2005, when she was forcibly removed from a Sudanese press conference. Per the Los Angeles Times, Mitchell was "dragged" from the room by large, heavily armed men. The foreign correspondent was in Sudan to report on Condoleezza Rice's diplomatic trip to the region. During a press conference with President Omar al-Bashir, Mitchell reportedly asked him "about his involvement in the country's violence," and he reportedly did not like the question very much.
Mitchell asked, "Why should the U.S. believe the Sudanese government will stop the killing when the government is still supporting the militia?" Al-Bashir motioned for his security to remove her, despite cries from U.S. diplomats for them to let her go (via HuffPost).
"It makes me even more determined when dictators and alleged war criminals are not held to account," she told the Los Angeles Times in an interview. "If our government is going to establish a relationship and push for a new beginning as Sudan reforms itself, they have to live up to international standards. A free press is part of that process." For what it's worth, Sudan officially apologized to Condoleezza Rice for the incident, though we imagine Mitchell and al-Bashir still aren't on the best terms.
Andrea Mitchell's husband has an impressive career
Andrea Mitchell is definitely one half of a power couple. While some men might be intimidated by Mitchell's high-powered career and name recognition, her star power wasn't intimidating to her husband, Alan Greenspan. While Mitchell was busy reporting on Washington, Greenspan was busy working in it. He became the head of the Federal Reserve in 1987, a position he held until 2006. That tenure officially makes him the second-longest serving head of the Federal Reserve to date (via CNN), which is pretty impressive. He notably led the country through one of its most profitable periods of economic "growth and prosperity in recent decades," per The New York Times.
Now firmly in his 90s, Greenspan is still very involved in D.C. politics. He voiced his concern about Trump's presidency and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the state of the economy. In November 2020, Greenspan explained to CNN that the state of the world made it difficult to predict what would happen next. "I've never seen a particular situation during my professional experience anything like this," he said, adding, "I'm not convinced at all that we have enough information to know how to deal with this type of problem."
Andrea Mitchell had beef with Donald Trump
Andrea Mitchell has come into conflict with leaders abroad (ahem... looking at you, Sudan), but one notable name on to her list was much closer to home. We're talking about Donald Trump. Throughout his presidency, Mitchell was not shy about criticizing the divisive politician. "It is totally sui generis. I've never seen anything like this," Mitchell told Politico when discussing Trump's press policies. "I have never seen anything like this where people just flat-out lie. You know, black is white and white is black, and they mislead you. It's really disconcerting to see the podium in the White House briefing room being used to mislead or misdirect or obfuscate."
Mitchell took particular issue with how the Trump administration treated members of press. "Now, we are called 'the enemy of the people.' Our credibility as journalists is deliberately targeted as part of a re-election strategy," Mitchell said at the 2019 Emmy News and Documentary Awards (via The Hollywood Reporter). "Today, time-honored norms are ignored. Press secretaries and senior officials deliver 'alternative facts.'" For his part, Trump once also implied that Mitchell was unprofessionally partisan when he called her Hillary Clinton's press secretary, so there was no love lost on either side (per Politico).
She is an expert on the Middle East
Though she's now in her 70s, Andrea Mitchell's career is as busy as ever. In 2021, she was on location in Israel reporting on Biden's Middle East policies and showing off the wealth of knowledge she's gained from her long career in foreign journalism. Speaking with Forbes, Mitchell outlined the stark differences in Biden's Israel policy and those of his predecessors. "President Biden chose to work largely behind the scenes, opting for intensive but quiet diplomacy, to try to limit the duration of the fighting. Still, there were terrible losses and political costs," she explained.
During Trump's presidency, she was critical of many of his Israel initiatives, not least of which was his celebration of the Abraham Accords, which officially aligned Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates more closely with Israel. Mitchell pointed out that both Bahrain and the UAE had been working with Israel for a long time. "Both countries have quietly dealt with Israel for years, sharing intelligence against Iran, a common enemy," she said (via Fox News). "But today's agreements open the doors for trade, travel, and tourism. But it is not Middle East peace."