The clock is ticking down to Fox News host Megyn Kelly’s first sit-down with presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump after months of public feuding. On the eve of her prime-time special, Megyn Kelly Presents, the anchor did her very best to channel the New York billionaire’s gift for brazen self-promotion and bluntness—a strategy that has clearly worked for Trump in ratings and the polls.
Appearing on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live—a nightly talk show hosted by Andy Cohen—Kelly dished about her months-long battle with the candidate and spilled dirt about her Fox News colleagues.
When a viewer called in to ask Kelly, who first clashed with Trump last summer after she pressed him on his history of sexist comments, if she thought the candidate went after her so hard because she is a woman, Kelly alluded to the fact that it was no coincidence. “I was not the only one to hit Trump at the first debate,” she said. “He didn’t go after them. I think the nature of my question really irritated him. . . . That’s a potential weak spot for him.” She would not say whether she would support him as the Republican nominee—“I don’t talk about what I do privately in the polling station because that’s not appropriate for a news journalist like me”—but she did say that anyone who wants to write Trump off because of his comments about women does so at their own peril.
“It was interesting to watch. He’d come after me and his poll numbers would go up and up and up—until they didn’t,” she said, channeling her inner Trump. “He smacked into the unfavorables with women of 72 percent in March.”
In a Trumpian way, Kelly also dodged a pointed question from Cohen about what she would say about the Donald’s appearance. Of course, she did not answer the question head-on. She launched into a response about his hair being real—something she learned by personally running her fingers through it, she said. “We used to get along! I’ve shoved my hands up in that hair and that’s real. For reals.” When pressed about whether she finds him attractive, she quoted Trump back to Cohen. “He actually has a very famous quote where he said something that goes: ‘I’m going to bed with all these supermodels so I guess it works.’ I'll let him speak for himself on that.”
Kelly was more candid about her own colleagues at Fox News. When Cohen asked if she had received support during the Trump saga from Bill O’Reilly, Kelly gave a flat no. “We don’t really keep the same hours, so I never really see Bill. I see him on TV like most of the American population. So, no.” Cohen then asked whether she had heard from “major feminist”Greta Van Susteren throughout the ordeal. “Not directly, no,” Kelly admitted. “But honestly, she is very busy.”
Kelly also opened up about sexism in the television industry, saying she has heard stories of male executives asking young female reporters to twirl around so they could get a full look at their rising stars. “Executives, you need to stop doing that,” she said. “It’s 2016. It’s time to use your eyes from the front.”
All eyes will be on Kelly Tuesday evening, as she tries her hand at a Barbara Walters–style magazine interview program—a departure from the cacophony of contributor voices and quick-changing segments on her nightly show —The Kelly File. Kelly, whose contract with Fox News is up later this year, told Cohen that she is keeping her options open. “Whenever I go into a contract negotiation, I’m open-minded. As I always say, it’s a very fickle business.”
“I love a woman with leverage,” Cohen told her. Kelly flashed that multi-million-dollar smile, and they went to commercial break.
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