Who Is Roger Ailes’ Wife, Elizabeth...and What Did She Know About His Scandals?
Roger Ailes stumble from greatness was front-page news...about the man behind the news. The chairman and CEO of Fox News and Fox Television Stations, Ailes resigned in July 2016 after several allegations of sexual harassment came to light. While the majority of the upcoming limited Showtime series The Loudest Voice focuses on his wrongdoings, his missteps, and his rage, there are a whole cast of characters who both helped him rise to power and suffered the consequences of his actions. Case in point: his wife of nearly 20 years, Elizabeth Ailes (formerly Tilson), who largely stood by her husband until his death in May 2017.
So who is Elizabeth Ailes? She’s very much kept a low profile since his passing, although she said that she was “profoundly sad” following the death of Ailes, despite the fact that multiple women had come forward to accuse him of sexual harassment and misconduct. Although she declined to be involved with the Showtime series, here’s what we know of who she was in the public eye before and during the hoopla.
How did they meet?
Elizabeth, known fondly to friends and family as Beth, was the director of programming at CNBC when Ailes was running the channel, and the two met at work. Their relationship blossomed into romance, and the pair married in 1998, two years after she left the job in 1996.
What about her own career?
When Ailes became the founding CEO of Fox News in 1996, he made moves to ensure that Elizabeth had her own career and businesses to run. He snapped up two local papers, The Putnam County News and Recorder and The Putnam County Courier, and made Elizabeth the publisher of both. In a 2016 Vanity Fair profile about Ailes, Elizabeth was referred to as wielding “the same kind of aggressiveness that Roger Ailes used on a larger stage.” Ailes sold the PCNR to longtime editor Douglas Cunningham in December 2016.
What was her reaction to the sexual harassment accusations?
While some powerful men’s partners very publicly, very deliberately, distance themselves from the accused, Elizabeth largely remained by Ailes’ side following the 2016 bombshell accusation by Fox & Friends’ Gretchen Carlson. She remained silent but supportive when several other women came forward to accuse the media mogul of sexual harassment and misconduct.
Privately, though, the scandals were rough on their marriage, and in a 2014 New York magazine expose about his career and lawsuits, family sources said that Elizabeth was “taking all of the revelations especially hard” and contemplating a divorce. Ultimately, the couple remained married, although they were living apart at the time of Ailes’ death. She was at their family home in Garrison, New York, while he was in Palm Beach, Florida.
Was she involved in any of the scandal?
Elizabeth did not appear to have any knowledge of the sexual harassment or misconduct prior to Carlson’s very public accusation and lawsuit. She did, however, get involved in some legal battles of her own, threatening to sue their neighbor, Cold Spring Village trustee Stephanie Hawkins, over a Facebook post. Hawkins shared a post from another trustee, which read, “The Ailes newspaper and their candidates have gone too far. It is clear I’m being followed. My movements are being tracked and reported in their newspaper.” Both Roger and Elizabeth denied spying on their neighbors.
What is she up to now?
Elizabeth has largely faded from the spotlight. The Ailes shared one son, Zachary, who was 17 when his father died. She still tweets on occasion, often sharing old photos of Roger and Zachary.
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