Gretchen Carlson Almost Lost Finger Cutting Onion, Jokes She’s Flipping the Bird Amid Recovery

Journalist Gretchen Carlson is mending her wounds — and joking about her recovery — after a nearly disastrous cooking accident.

“I’m sorry to say I’m going to be giving you the finger for at least a week,” Carlson, 57, joked via Instagram on Sunday, December 3, while holding up her bandaged middle finger. “Almost cut off my finger chopping an onion tonight b/c I thought I’d make a healthy meal for myself instead of getting take out … again.”

The Be Fierce author quipped: “Now I know I’m not supposed to cook!”

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Carlson later thanked the press for “caring about my finger.” She reposted a news story about her accident via Instagram on Monday, December 4, and noted that she’s still committed to the “good advocacy work [that] I’m doing to make workplaces safer,” teasing, “when I’m not in the kitchen of course — COOKING!”

Carlson is known for her work as a former Fox broadcaster and longtime women’s rights activist. Carlson made headlines in 2016 when she filed a sexual assault lawsuit against former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, claiming that she was fired from the company after she rejected Ailes’ alleged advances.

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Ailes denied the claims in a statement to Us Weekly at the time, alleging, "[This] is a retaliatory suit for the network’s decision not to renew her contract, which was due to the fact that her disappointingly low ratings were dragging down the afternoon lineup.”

Ailes resigned from Fox two weeks later and Carlson settled her lawsuit with 21st Century Fox in September 2016. Her willingness to speak out helped spark the #MeToo movement — and was documented in 2019’s Bombshell. (Ailes died in May 2017 at the age of 77.)

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Carlson partnered with Julie Roginsky in 2019 to create Lift Our Voices. The nonprofit organization is “dedicated to informing, educating, and advocating for a safer and more equitable workplace for all,” according to its official website.

Days prior to her kitchen accident, Carlson reminded her followers of her and Roginsky’s mission via social media. “The Lift Our Voices team is working to shift an entire culture towards equity and inclusivity, eliminating workplace toxicity and ensuring every worker has a voice,” she wrote via Instagram on Tuesday, November 28.

Carlson then asked her followers to consider “joining” the Lift Our Voices group’s efforts in “fighting back against discriminatory workplaces” in honor of Giving Tuesday.