Ex-Fox News Star Courtney Friel Reveals Roger Ailes Made Her Twirl & Leered At Thighs
Jan. 4 2020, Published 7:21 p.m. ET
Former Fox News star Courtney Friel has told all about the network's late head Roger Ailes' alleged harassment.
As the Daily Mail has reported, Friel, 39, has exposed in her new book Tonight At 10: Kicking Booze and Breaking News, how disgraced Ailes, who died in 2017, treated her like a piece of meat.
"When I would have meetings with Roger in his office (which had security monitors and a huge lock on the door), he would ask me to twirl for him," she has written.
"He’d always tell me I was 'the hottest one at Fox,' and would compliment my legs. We weren’t allowed to wear pants, and if I was anchoring Fox & Friends on the curvy couch with the laptop screen blocking the view of my legs, Roger would call the control room and have the director tell me to shut it."
Friel, who sometimes was a fill-in host on the hit Fox & Friends, claimed that staff at the network joked that Ailes suffered from DOMS - Dirty Old Man Syndrome.
DOMS also stood for Dirty Old Man Symptoms whenever he would try and touch one of them or sexually harass them.
"The comments and twirling made me feel uncomfortable, but at the time, I would deflect my feelings with humor, saying: 'Oh, Roger just has DOMS.' DOMS was a term I made up that stood for either Dirty Old Man Syndrome or Dirty Old Man Symptoms. I’m convinced all men have one or the other."
Friel reveals in her book, due out this Tuesday, Jan. 7, that Ailes had a huge lock on the door to his office.
Fox News founder Ailes was sued by former anchor Gretchen Carlson, who said he’d sexually harassed her. That suit was settled out of court — but prompted a flurry of new allegations against Ailes. He resigned in disgrace in July 2016 and died on May 18, 2017, at age 77.
Fox News has implemented rigorous sexual harassment training after various scandals involving the network.
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Friel worked for Fox for six years before moving to Los Angeles where she joined local TV station KTLA as an anchor, reporter and host of her own podcast.
The Ailes nightmare is currently being relived in the movie Bombshell starring Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie.
In her lawsuit Carlson described a culture of harassment in which Ailes once told her, "I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago, and then you’d be good and better and I’d be good and better."
Carlson has just partnered with Blumhouse Television to develop a new interview series.
In her book Friel, 39, has noted, "I too dealt with sexual harassment from the head of Fox News, though not to the extent some of my other colleagues did."
Friel also has written about interviewing celebrities such as Angelina Jolie and Taylor Swift and says her favorites were Dolly Parton and Bryan Cranston.
However, most of Friel’s book covers her recovery after alcohol and drug abuse, the Daily Mail reported.
Friel told the publication in a statement, "Writing a book like this is somewhat of an emotional rollercoaster but also therapeutic.
"I think what kept me going was knowing there are other people who could benefit from my experiences.
"It was important to me to be completely transparent and honest; I wanted to show the good, the bad and the ugly. If just one person is inspired to get sober, the whole thing will have been worth it," said Friel, who shares two kids with her ex-husband, CBS correspondent Carter Evans.