Bombshell — the highly anticipated movie depicting the alleged culture of sexual misconduct at Fox News — hits select theaters this week and will be released nationwide on December 20. The film follows three female employees at the politically conservative news network: Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman), Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron), and Kayla (Margot Robbie), a composite character of other real women at Fox.
Together, they plot to expose Fox News CEO Roger Ailes (John Lithgow) for sexual harassment. Theron’s turn as Kelly has been receiving tons of attention ever since the first trailer dropped in October, largely because her resemblance to the IRL Kelly is uncanny.
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Back in 2016, New York Magazine reported that Kelly told lawyers Ailes made non-consensual sexual advances toward her in 2006 when she was a young correspondent. Her decision to open up about the harassment eventually influenced her decision to leave Fox News in 2017, after more than 13 years as a star anchor at the right-leaning network. The movie chronicles the last few years of her long tenure at Fox, which included the beginnings and aftermath of her being subjected to public bullying from then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Ultimately, Kelly left Fox for NBC, joining the network in 2017. During her time there, she hosted Megyn Kelly Today during The Today Show. However, it lasted for a year and was cancelled in October 2018 due to poor ratings and mixed reviews.
She also courted controversy at NBC, igniting immediate backlash when she appeared to defend the racist use of Blackface for Halloween costumes on Megyn Kelly Today. At the time, she asked, “What is racist?” and revealed that as a kid, she believed Blackface was okay “as long as you were dressing up as like a character.”
“I can’t keep up with the number of people we’re offending just by being normal people,” she added. It wasn’t exactly the first time Kelly had been under fire for comments regarding race. In 2013, she notoriously insisted on Fox News that Santa Claus cannot be Black because he is white.
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In the aftermath of the NBC incident, Kelly reportedly sent an internal apology email to network staff, and apologized for her comments the next morning on her show.
“I want to begin with two words: I’m sorry,” she told the camera. “The country feels so divided and I have no wish to add to that pain and offense. I believe this is a time for more understanding, more love, more sensitivity and honor. Thank you for listening and for helping me listen, too.”
Despite the apologies, the writing was on the wall for Kelly. She departed NBC in January 2019 and has remained relatively under-the-radar ever since. So, what has Kelly been up to all year? By the looks of her Instagram, she’s trying to get her own social media-based show off the ground. In November, she officially joined the platform with a big announcement.
“Launching my Instagram with an exclusive interview of the woman just fired after the leak of a hot mic moment by ABC’s @ajrobach,” she wrote. “But did ABC News target the right person? Follow along with me here @MegynKelly, for current stories and my insight in real time.”
Since the announcement, Kelly's feed has included more dog photos than news clips, though, so it's unclear how seriously she is courting the idea of creating a pocket-sized Megyn Kelly program. While we know where she literally is thanks to her social media presence, the fate of her career as a host and producer currently remains unknown.