Sexts in Ed Henry Rape Lawsuit Reveal Accuser Sent 15 Nude Images and Told Ex-Fox News Star 'Come Spread Them and Slide my Bikini Off' — 2 Weeks After Alleged Abuse
Ed Henry's lawyer hit back at rape accusations with shocking text message they claim prove the relationship was 'consensual'.
Dec. 10 2024, Published 5:06 p.m. ET
Former Fox News anchor Ed Henry has been accused of raping a staffer, but raunchy text messages between the two threaten to undermine her allegations.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the text messages included in a new court filing, which Henry's lawyer argued proved his relationship with the staffer was "consensual".
The allegations stem from a 2020 lawsuit filed by ex-Fox Business associate producer Jennifer Eckhart, who claimed Henry, 53, violently beat and raped her in 2017.
Henry was fired from Fox News in 2020 after Eckhart filed her lawsuit accusing him of rape.
Eckhart, 34, further charged the embattled news host – who is 19 years her senior – used "manipulation" and "grooming" tactics against her leading up to the alleged rape.
On Monday, Henry's lawyers pushed back on Eckhart's claimed and included WhatsApp messages the former colleagues exchanged in a court filing.
Court documents stated: "Ed and Jennifer also continued sexting in the weeks after and months after the alleged rape, with frequent references to rough, consensual sex, with Jennifer often initiating."
In one message, Eckhart wrote: "You wanna f--- me."
Henry's lawyers included messages with Eckhart which they claimed proved the sexual encounter was 'consensual'.
Another message from Eckhart included in the filing read: "Come spread them and slide my bikini off.
"F---ing dirty boy. I love it."
Court documents further detailed 15 naked and explicit photos Eckhart sent Henry in the two weeks after the alleged rape. Five of the photos were said to be of other women, not Eckhart.
One image Eckhart sent was said to feature "herself in black lingerie with the tips of the two middle fingers of her left hand inserted into her panties", another was described as Eckhart "lying sideways in her underwear on the bed, breast thrust forward".
Henry's lawyers further insisted the allegedly "consensual" sex, which took place on February 10, 2017, was sparked by Eckhart's "highly provocative sexting".
During their sexual encounter, Henry was said to have hit Eckhart with a belt and restrained her.
While the former America's Newsroom host acknowledged the incident was "rough", he insisted Eckhart agreed to sadomasochism before-hand – and his lawyers alleged she "sent Ed a photograph of a belt" along with a text stating she would "always obey and make myself available to u".
Eckhart was said to have followed up with another message reading: "You NEED my 26-year-old p----."
Henry's lawyers claimed the alleged rape was prompted by Eckhart's 'highly provocative sexting'.
Days before the alleged rape, Henry messaged Eckhart: "Gentle little wh---. Gonna get tossed around like a rag doll."
To which she responded: "Love that."
Henry's lawyers accused Eckhart of intentionally selecting messages from their conversations in an attempt to paint him as a sexual predator.
His attorneys stated in the filing: "All the WhatsApp messages preserved for litigation are selectively chosen photographs of a portion of Jennifer's communications with Ed.
"Many of these messages, including most of the ones Jennifer thinks are incriminating, have been cut off to obscure a final comment by Jennifer expressing pleasure, agreement or desire."
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In response to the text messages, Eckhart's lawyer, Michael J. Willemin of Wigdor Partners, released a statement to RadarOnline.com.
Willemin told us: "As set forth in our recent summary judgment papers, Ms. Eckhart is far from Mr. Henry's only victim, and he is alleged to have sexually assaulted another Fox News colleague as well.
Every effort Mr. Henry has made to get this case dismissed has failed. We are more confident than ever that when all the evidence is reviewed by a jury, Ms. Eckhart will prevail in her claims. In fact, Ms. Eckhart is the party who included many of the text messages as evidence in support of her claims because she has nothing to hide, and all the evidence together proves her claims."
Eckhart also released her own statement on X, writing: "The text messages that Ed Henry strategically released 'exclusively' to the Daily Mail are my own personal exhibits that I willingly turned over as part of the legal Discovery process as I have nothing to hide whereas he has nowhere left to hide.
"I guess Ed Henry conveniently forgot to 'exclusively' turn over text messages to the Daily Mail of his attempt to sex traffic me amongst his buddies in addition to the naked photographs he took of me, without my consent, while in handcuffs prior to raping me.
"Known sexual predators like Ed Henry resort to a standard practice of humiliation when they can no longer silence their victims."
She later added: "Rape is rape and can never be justified or excused. Despite every attempt to try to scare me and intimidate me, I, too remain confident the truth will prevail and look forward to trial."
