Sean Hannity
Sean Patrick Hannity[3] (born December 30, 1961)[4] is an American conservative broadcast host and writer.[5][6][7] He hosts The Sean Hannity Show, a nationally syndicated talk radio show, and has also hosted a commentary program, Hannity, on Fox News, since 2009.
Sean Hannity
Conservative broadcast host and writer
2
Hannity worked as a general contractor and volunteered as a talk show host at UC Santa Barbara in 1989. He later joined WVNN in Athens, Alabama and shortly afterward, WGST in Atlanta. After leaving WGST, he worked at WABC in New York until 2013. Since 2014, Hannity has worked at WOR.[8] In 1996, Hannity and Alan Colmes co-hosted Hannity & Colmes on Fox. After Colmes announced his departure in January 2008, Hannity merged the Hannity & Colmes show into Hannity.[9]
Hannity has promoted conspiracy theories such as "birtherism" (claims that then-President Barack Obama was not a legitimate U.S. citizen), claims regarding the murder of Seth Rich, falsehoods about Hillary Clinton's health, and false claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election.[10] Hannity was an early supporter of Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, and often acted as an unofficial spokesman for him.[11] When Trump was president, White House advisors characterized Hannity as the "shadow" chief of staff,[12] and he reportedly phoned the White House and spoke to Trump most weeknights.[13] According to Forbes, by 2018 Hannity had become one of the most-watched hosts in cable news and most-listened-to hosts in talk radio, due in part to his closeness and access to Trump.[13] He privately urged Trump administration officials before and during the January 6 United States Capitol attack to cease some of their efforts to retain the presidency and to urge Trump's supporters to leave the Capitol.[14]
Hannity was among the hosts named in the Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News Network defamation lawsuit for broadcasting false statements about the plaintiff company's voting machines that Fox News settled for $787.5 million and required Fox News to acknowledge that the broadcast statements were false.[15][16] Hannity has an honorary degree from Liberty University. He won awards from the National Association of Broadcasters in 2003 and 2007.[17] He has written three New York Times best-selling books: Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty over Liberalism; Deliver Us from Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism; and Conservative Victory: Defeating Obama's Radical Agenda, and released a fourth, Live Free or Die, in 2020.[18]
Early life and education
Hannity was born in New York City, New York, the son of Lillian (née Flynn) and Hugh Hannity.[4][19] Lillian worked as a stenographer and a corrections officer at a county jail, while Hugh was a World War II veteran and family-court officer.[20] He was the youngest of four siblings and the only boy.[20] All his grandparents immigrated to the United States from Ireland. He grew up in Franklin Square, New York on Long Island.[20]
In his youth, Hannity worked as a paperboy delivering issues of the New York Daily News and the Long Island Daily Press. His parents were initially supporters of President John F. Kennedy, eventually growing more Republican in their views as time went on, though they resisted being overtly political at home.[20][21]
Hannity attended Sacred Heart Seminary in Hempstead, New York[20] and St. Pius X Preparatory Seminary in Uniondale, New York.[22] He attended New York University and Adelphi University, but did not graduate from either.[20]
Personal life
Hannity met Jill Rhodes in 1991 when he worked at WVNN in Huntsville, Alabama and she was a political columnist for the Huntsville Times.[234] The two married in 1993.[23] In June 2020, the couple announced that they had divorced the previous year but had separated years prior.[235]
Hannity has since dated Fox News colleague Ainsley Earhardt.[236] In August 2019, Hannity and Earhardt arrived together as guests for a wedding at Trump National Golf Course in Colts Neck, New Jersey. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she hosted her Fox & Friends program from a remote studio in the basement of Hannity's Long Island mansion.[237]
Hannity has two children from his marriage to Rhodes: a son, Patrick, born in 1998, and daughter, Merri, born in 2001.[234] Both children graduated from Cold Spring Harbor High School. Patrick attended Wake Forest University where he played tennis.[238][239][23] Merri attends The University of Michigan where she also plays tennis. In high school, Merri was the fourth highest ranked tennis player in New York State.[240]
In 2018, Forbes estimated that Hannity's annual income was $36 million.[190] In April 2021, he purchased a $5.3 million house several miles from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence.[241]
In 2014 he said he has carried a weapon "more than half my adult life".[242] According to Hannity, he has a brown belt in martial arts and trains four days a week in the sport.[243]
In 2024, Hannity announced that he had moved from his home in Long Island, New York to Florida and would be broadcasting The Sean Hannity Show and Hannity from his new home permanently.[244]