Megyn Kelly Net Worth: How She Built a $45 Million Fortune

Megyn Kelly is one of the most known faces in American news. She started as a lawyer, became a top cable news host, had a short and difficult time at NBC, and then built her own media brand. Few journalists in the United States have changed direction as many times as she has and stayed in the public eye each time.

Published estimates most often place Megyn Kelly net worth at about $45 million. That number is an estimate, not a figure she has confirmed herself. Still, the story behind it is easy to follow. Big television contracts, a best selling book, and a popular daily show under her own control have all added up over more than twenty years on screen.

Quick Facts

Early Life and a Family Loss That Shaped Her

Megyn Marie Kelly was born on November 18, 1970, in Champaign, Illinois. She grew up mostly in New York state, first near Syracuse and then in Delmar, a suburb of Albany. Her father, Edward Kelly, taught education at the State University of New York at Albany. Her mother, Linda, later worked as a nurse.

Her childhood changed in a hard way when she was 15. Her father died of a heart attack, and her mother worked to support the family. Kelly has spoken over the years about how that loss made her grow up fast. It is a part of her story she returns to when she talks about hard work and not waiting for life to get easier.

At school she was active and driven. She first wanted to study communications at Syracuse University, but she was not accepted into that program. She studied political science instead and graduated in 1992. That small setback pushed her toward law, and law ended up giving her the sharp questioning style that later made her famous on television.

From Courtrooms to a News Desk

Kelly earned her law degree from Albany Law School in 1995, where she was an editor of the law review. She began her legal career at the firm Bickel and Brewer in Chicago. In 1997 she joined Jones Day, a large international firm, where she worked for about nine years. One of her clients was the credit bureau Experian.

By most accounts she was on a strong path in law and could have made partner. But the long hours of litigation work wore her down, and she began to look for something different. She took a reporting class, did an internship with a Chicago news branch, and made a sample tape of herself on camera. It was a bold move for someone with almost no news experience.

In 2003 she moved toward television full time and landed work as a reporter for WJLA-TV, the ABC station in Washington, D.C. She covered big local and national stories, including the 2004 presidential election. Her legal training helped her stand out right away. She could explain court cases and politics in plain words, and producers noticed.

The Fox News Years and The Kelly File

Fox News hired Kelly in 2004. She started with legal segments and guest spots, then co-anchored Americas Newsroom with Bill Hemmer. In 2010 she got her own daytime show, America Live. Each step gave her more air time and a larger audience, and her pay rose with her profile, even though her early Fox salary was never made public in detail.

Her biggest Fox success came in 2013 with The Kelly File. The prime time show ran until 2017 and was one of the highest rated programs on the network. Kelly became known for direct questions and for not backing down in tough interviews. In August 2015 she moderated a Republican primary debate and made headlines around the world for her exchange with candidate Donald Trump.

Time magazine named her one of its 100 most influential people in 2014. In 2016 she published her memoir, Settle for More, which became a best seller and added book income to her television earnings. By the time she left Fox in January 2017, she was one of the most valuable hosts in cable news, and other networks knew it.

The NBC Move, the Big Contract, and a Hard Exit

In 2017 Kelly left Fox and joined NBC News. Reports at the time put her NBC deal at about $69 million over three years, which works out to roughly $23 million a year. That reported contract is the single biggest reason published net worth estimates for Kelly are so high. NBC gave her two shows, a Sunday night program called Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly and a morning show called Megyn Kelly Today.

The move did not work as planned. The morning show drew mixed reviews and lower ratings than NBC had hoped for. In October 2018, comments she made on air about blackface and Halloween costumes brought strong criticism. NBC cancelled Megyn Kelly Today soon after, and she left the network in January 2019.

Reports said Kelly received the remaining value of her contract when she left, often reported as around $30 million still owed at that point. Exact settlement terms were not fully published, so that figure should also be read as reported rather than confirmed. Even so, it is clear that the NBC years, short as they were, paid her very well and protected much of her fortune.

Building Her Own Brand With The Megyn Kelly Show

After NBC, Kelly did something she had not done before. Instead of joining another big network right away, she built her own company. She founded Devil May Care Media and launched The Megyn Kelly Show as a podcast in 2020. The show later moved to SiriusXM, where it airs on the Triumph channel, and it built a large audience on YouTube as well.

Working for herself changed her income picture. There is no single network salary in the same way, but she controls the show, its sponsors, and its growth. In 2025 she launched MK Media, a podcast and video network for independent voices, and Time named her to its 100 most influential list again that year. That second act is still growing, and it is the main reason her wealth story did not end with the NBC exit.

Her personal life has stayed more steady than her career. She married Daniel Kendall in 2001 and they divorced in 2006. In 2008 she married Douglas Brunt, a businessman and author. They have three children, two sons and a daughter. Kelly keeps her children mostly out of her public work, and she has said family is the part of her life she guards the most.

So how should readers view the $45 million figure? As a careful estimate built from public facts. The known pieces are a long run at Fox, a reported $69 million NBC contract, a best selling memoir, speaking and media work, and now a show and network that she owns. No public record lists every asset she holds, and estimates from different outlets range a little above and below that mark. The $45 million figure is simply the one published sources return to most often.

FAQs

What is Megyn Kelly net worth?

Published sources most often estimate her net worth at about $45 million. It is an estimate based on her known contracts, book sales, and media work, not a number she has confirmed.

How much did NBC pay Megyn Kelly?

Her NBC deal was widely reported at about $69 million over three years. Reports also said she was paid the balance owed on the contract when she left in January 2019, though full settlement details were not made public.

What did Megyn Kelly do before television?

She was a corporate lawyer. After Albany Law School she worked at Bickel and Brewer and then spent about nine years at Jones Day before moving into reporting in 2003.

What is Megyn Kelly doing now?

She hosts The Megyn Kelly Show on SiriusXM and online through her own company, and in 2025 she launched MK Media, a network for independent podcast and video creators.

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Final Thoughts

Megyn Kelly built her fortune in stages, and each stage took a risk. She left a safe legal career, climbed from reporter to prime time host, took a huge network deal that ended early, and then bet on herself with her own show. The $45 million estimate tells only part of that story. The fuller picture is a career of reinvention, where the biggest paydays came when she was willing to walk away from one chapter and start the next one on her own terms.

Featured photo: Megyn Kelly – photo by Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons