Fox News host Megyn Kelly, who’s been on the receiving end of Donald Trump’s attack machine since the first Republican presidential debate, announced on her show this week that she’d be taking a vacation -- but the network says it has nothing to do with the Trump controversy.
“It's been six months since I had a vacation,” Kelly said on “The Kelly File” Wednesday. “So I'll be taking the next week-and-a-half off, spending some time with my husband and my kids trying to relax.”
The announcement, which some news outlets have called “sudden,” has generated speculation that Kelly hasn’t been able to handle the blowback from asking Trump about past sexist remarks, which the Republican presidential candidate called unfair. Even Trump guessed Friday that Kelly was taking time off on account of the controversy, saying there “probably was [a connection], but I wouldn’t know anything about it.”
“People were very surprised that, all of the sudden, she decided to go away for 10 days,” Trump added.
But a Fox News spokeswoman released a statement Friday saying Kelly’s vacation was planned long ago, and dismissed the “conspiracy theories” about her taking a little time off.
“The conspiracy theories about Megyn Kelly’s vacation rank up there with UFO's, the moon landing and Elvis being alive,” the spokeswoman said. “Megyn is on a pre-planned, annual summer vacation with her family, which is much deserved. To imply otherwise, as Donald Trump and his campaign operatives have, is not only wildly irresponsible, but downright bizarre.”
The network noted that Fox News hosts Bill O'Reilly and Gretchen Carlson had also recently taken time off. The statement also addressed Trump in particular, and expressed the network’s support of its star anchor.
“Perhaps Mr. Trump thinks it's advantageous to his poll numbers to keep talking about Megyn, but that doesn't change the fact that Roger Ailes has fully supported her and her tough journalistic questioning since day one and is thrilled with the added exposure from the debate, which resulted in even higher ratings of The Kelly File this week,” the statement reads. “Anyone who knows Roger is aware of how historically and consistently loyal he is to all of his talent and how he protects them at all costs.”
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