If someone asked you to name a male, conservative, political commentator, one of the names that would probably come to mind would be, 48-year-old, Tucker Carlson. He’s an extremely polarizing character, you either love him or hate him. Wherever you fall on that spectrum, you’ve got to admit, he’s a pretty charismatic personality- his ratings sure confirm it.
From CNN to Fox News, Tucker Carlson has a resume most journalists could only dream of. Not to say that he didn’t experience hardships along his journey. Curious to learn more about this controversial newsman? Read on.
“Oh, Mother Where Art Thou?”
Carlson was born in San Francisco, California. He’s the eldest son of Richard Warner Carlson, former L.A. news anchor and U.S. ambassador to Seychelles. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, Carlson Senior was also the president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and director of the Voice of America. Obviously, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
His biological mother, Lisa McNear Lombardi, abandoned her family when Tucker was only 6 years old and had very little contact with her kids after that. Four years after his mother left, his father remarried. This time, to Patricia Caroline Swanson, the heiress to the Swanson frozen foods empire. She is also the niece of Senator J. William Fulbright of the famous Fulbright Program. What an interesting background!
If someone asked you to name a male, conservative, political commentator, one of the names that would probably come to mind would be, 48-year-old, Tucker Carlson. He’s an extremely polarizing character, you either love him or hate him. Wherever you fall on that spectrum, you’ve got to admit, he’s a pretty charismatic personality- his ratings sure confirm it.
From CNN to Fox News, Tucker Carlson has a resume most journalists could only dream of. Not to say that he didn’t experience hardships along his journey. Curious to learn more about this controversial newsman? Read on.
“Oh, Mother Where Art Thou?”
Carlson was born in San Francisco, California. He's the eldest son of Richard Warner Carlson, former L.A. news anchor and U.S. ambassador to Seychelles. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, Carlson Senior was also the president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and director of the Voice of America. Obviously, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
His biological mother, Lisa McNear Lombardi, abandoned her family when Tucker was only 6 years old and had very little contact with her kids after that. Four years after his mother left, his father remarried. This time, to Patricia Caroline Swanson, the heiress to the Swanson frozen foods empire. She is also the niece of Senator J. William Fulbright of the famous Fulbright Program. What an interesting background!
We Don’t Need No Education
Carlson attended St. George’s School, a private Episcopal boarding school in Middletown, Rhode Island. After graduation, he continued his studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, where he majored in History, surprising? His interest in journalism would spark further down the road.
Although Carlson did get a formal college education, in 2018 he caused an uproar (which you’ll find he does quite often) after he posed the question “Is College Worth it?”, on his Fox New segment Tucker Carlson Tonight. Carlson stated that obtaining a college degree has become "crushingly expensive" and added "More students are failing, yet almost nobody fails. ... Colleges barely teach, yet every year they increase their fees.” While his comments did receive backlash from advocates of higher learning, there were many people, college-educated included, that agreed with his words.
High School Sweet Hearts
Carlson married Susan Andrews in 1991. On a Mother’s Day episode of the Fox News segment “Fox and Friends”, they told viewers how they’ve known each other since the 10th grade, at St George’s School. “We’ve been together 30 years, so it’s a little hard to imagine what it’s like not to be [together],” said Carlson. How sweet!
The Carlsons have four children together- two daughters and two sons. In an interview, Tucker Carlson referred to their kids as his “little angels”. On television, he may have a tough persona at times, but he’s really a devoted family man who enjoys spending time with his wife and children.
The Beginning
Tucker’s journalism career kicked off when he became a fact-checker for a national conservative journal called Policy Review- then published by The Heritage Foundation, but currently belongs to the Hoover Institution. Everyone has to start somewhere.
Carlson is proud of his beginning. He utilized those years to sharpen his investigative skills and learn from the more experienced college. This would help climb the ranks in the news industry. As you will come to see, he has surely come a long way since then!
From Fact Checker To Writer
As a reporter, he traveled around the world to the most talked about locations, contributing to magazines and newspapers to the like of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, The Weekly Standard, Reader’s Digest, Esquire, The Weekly Standard, The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine, and The Daily Beast. Quite an impressive list!
The publications appreciated his take on the current event and international affairs, especially those that favored more conservative political views.
Age Is Nothing But A Number
In 2000, Carlson was hired by CNN where he stayed until 2005. He started off as co-host of “The Spin Room”, becoming the youngest anchor ever hired by the network. In 2001 he became the co-host of “Crossfire”, presenting the political views of the ‘right’. His co-host, Paul Begala illustrated the opinions of the ‘left’. At the time he also hosted the weekly public affairs program on PBS, “Tucker Carlson: Unfiltered”.
As implied in the name of the show- The ‘Spin’ Room, Carlson had a talent for flipping any topic, no matter how controversial, so that it would agree with his conservative views. At times, liberal viewers wondered if he really believed the things he said in his exchanges with Begala or was he simply skilled at playing Devil’s Advocate.
The Unforgettable Debate
You've probably already got a sense that Carlson isn’t one to back down in a debate. On October 2004, the year of the 2004 presidential elections, he had one of his most memorable moments that has become part of American TV history.
In a heated exchange between Carlson and Jon Stewart- the host of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central at the time- Stewart criticized the co-hosts saying “It's hurting America. Here is what I wanted to tell you guys: Stop. You have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably.".
Stewart believed the two were making a mockery of reporting and journalism because they irresponsibly presented extremes of both political spectrums on important issues that only caused more division amongst the American people.
Tucker later revealed that when the televised show ended, they stayed on arguing for several hours. “It was heartfelt,” said Carlson “He [Stewart] needed to do this.”
Facing The Consequences
In January 2005, CNN announced that Carlson would be leaving the network and “Crossfire” was going to be taken off-air. It was quite sudden news. At the time, the New York Times wrote about Stewart’s "on-air dressing-down" of Carlson as an "ignominious career [moment]" for Carlson. According to the paper, it was because of this criticism that the show “Crossfire” was ended. But this was not all, CNN chief Jonathan Klein, informed Carlson that his contract would not be renewed. Carlson, however, tells a different story. His version is that he had already resigned from CNN and “Crossfire” even before Stewart was booked as a guest. Speaking to host Patricia Duff, Carlson revealed that “I resigned from “Crossfire” in April, many months before Jon Stewart came on our show, because I didn’t like the partisanship, and I thought in some ways it was kind of a pointless conversation … each side coming out, you know, ‘Here’s my argument’, and no one listening to anyone else. [CNN] was a frustrating place to work.” Who’s telling the truth, who knows?
Although CNN chief Jonathan Klein informed Carlson that his contract would not be renewed, Carlson claimed that he had already turned in his letter of resignation from CNN and “Crossfire”, even before Stewart was booked as a guest, saying“ I resigned from “Crossfire” in April, many months before Jon Stewart came on our show, because I didn’t like the partisanship, and I thought in some ways it was kind of a pointless conversation … each side coming out, you know, ‘Here’s my argument’, and no one listening to anyone else. [CNN] was a frustrating place to work.” Which story do you choose to believe?
New Network
But Carlson wasn’t out of the limelight for long. On June 13th, 2005, a few months after leaving CNN, he debuted in his new early evening segment, “ The Situation with Tucker Carlson”, which premiered on his new network, MSNBC. Unfortunately, the gig didn't last long and was taken off-air in March 2008 for poor ratings.
Surly Carlson’s right-winged views didn’t sit well with a majority left- winged audience. Which would explain the unfavorable ratings his new show received.
The Network Changes Directions
Brian Stelter wrote in The New York Times that “during Mr. Carlson’s tenure, MSNBC’s evening programming moved gradually to the left. His former time slots, 6 and 9 p.m., were then occupied by two liberals, Ed Schultz and Rachel Maddow.”
Carlson also mentioned the shift MSNBC had made during his time there, saying that the network had “changed a lot” and “they didn’t have a role for me.” “It’s just a different network than it was when I joined,” he said in an interview with The New York Times. However, he did mention in the same article that despite the difference in their political views the people at the network were always nice to him. Well, that’s good to hear!
Fox New Keep Carlson Busy
In May 2009 Carlson became a contributor for Fox News. He was also a frequent panelist on a number of late-night satire shows, including “Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld” and “Special Report” with Bret Baier. He was the substituted host for “Hannity” in Sean Hannity’s absence and produced a Fox News special called “Fighting for Our Children’s Minds” where he ventured into the nation’s classrooms to find out what exactly our children were being taught.
Fox News is a very conservative network and which made it a very comfortable place for Carlosn’s views. They welcomed his thought-provoking opinions.
Fox News Loves Carlson
In March 2013, Carlson got promoted from being a contributor and guest host at Fox News to being a co-host for the weekend edition of the conservative daily morning news and talk show “Fox & Friends”. His fellow co-hosts were non-other than Alisyn Camerota and Clayton Morris. It aired on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
After a long rough patch, it seemed as though Carlson had finally found a place to call home. His hard work and perseverance looked like it was finally begining to pay off.
Carlson Gets His Big Shot
On November 14, 2016, Carlson premiered on Fox News’s “On the Record”, following the departure of the show’s former host. Two months later, in January 2017, the network announced that “On the Record” would be taking the place of “The Kelly File”, which would be replaced with “Tucker Carlson Tonight” in April 2017.
With 3.7 million viewers in late 2017, its first episode was “the network’s most-watched telecast of the year in the time slot”. In the third quarter of 2018, “Tucker Carlson Tonight” was third in a list of the 10 most viewed cable news programs, boasting an average audience of 2,775,000 viewers.
Numbers Don't Lie
Fox New’s rating data proved that Carlson was one of their top rating performers. Just a month after his show’s debuted, the network's ratings rose by 25%. Fox News executive chairman, Rupert Murdoch, has said that "Viewers have overwhelmingly responded to the show and we look forward to him being a part of Fox News’ powerful primetime line-up.”
Viewers now started to look for Carlson whenever they turned on Fox News, he was on a few shows now, so it would be hard to miss him. The future was finally starting to look bright again for Carlson.
Night Time Slot
2017 must have been Carlson's year! On April 19, the network released an official announced that Tucker Carlson Tonight would replace the Fox News’ 8 PM time slot. This was after the firing of Bill O’Reilly's show- The O’Reilly Factor, which was canceled following the host's sexual harassment allegations.
You know what they say, "when one door closes another door opens", well, in this case, when Bill O’Reilly's door closed, it left Carlon's wide open. You don't get opportunities like that every day. The question was, would he live up to the expectations?
Carlson Didn't Disappoint
Fox News was proud that they betted on Carlson. Just two months after Tucker Carlson Tonight premiered it averaged 2.8 million viewers. A 23% increase in total viewership from the 7 PM slot. Furthermore, according to Nielsen Media Research, he was captivating more viewers than both his former networks, CNN and MSNBC. Wonder what his former employers thought about that?
Carlon's enchanting charisma kept viewers engaged. There were even many liberal viewers that tuned in to what Carlson had to say about certain topics. He soon became the most popular host on Fox News.
A Leap Of Faith
Fox New had a few contestants, some big names, in fact, that were also considered as a replacement for Bill O’Reilly's show. While the others were also talented, the network decided to go with someone familiar to the viewers. Plus they preferred someone from their "family" rather than some high profile talent that didn't know how their network operates. Moreover, they believed seeing a friendly face would help their audience to handle the change better.
Their gut feeling was correct. Carlson's show kept the network's viewership up, even after one of their favorite shows had been taken off-air.
You Look Like ($8) Million Bucks!
According to reports, Tucker Carlson's has an estimated net worth of $8 million –while he isn't the lowest paid at the network, many of his peers have triple his net worth. For example, the controversial host, Megyn Kelly, has an estimated net worth of $15 million, Sean Hannity, $80 million, and not to mention Bill O’Reilly, $85 million.
His other fellow anchor must have other streams of income besides hosting on Fox News. Carlson seems to be doing what he loves not concerned about the financil aspect of it. Or maybe he simply doesn't want everyone how much money he really has.
Charity Work
Tucker Carlson charity of choice is Horton’s Kids, that works to empower at-risk children from Washington, DC's most under-resourced communities. Carlson was introduced to the organization by CNN’s Jake Tapper, telling U.S. News “I remember being on the road with Jake in ’99 when we were both reporters covering the presidential race and him telling me about [Horton’s Kids],”. He added, “I had three kids by that point, weirdly, so our support has been from afar, limited to financial support, but I’ve always been a fan since the beginning."
Carlson, having children of his own, seems to have a soft spot for underprivileged kids. Fortunately, his kids will never have to experience the hardships of poverty thanks to his successful career.
Editor In Chief
In 2010, Tucker Carlson, along with former vice president Dick Cheney and Neil Patel launched a conservative American political news website called The Daily Caller. Carlson held the position of editor in chief and occasionally wrote opinion pieces with Patel. Successful businessman, Foster Friess was among of the supporters of their publication, he alone granted them $3 million dollars.
The Daily Caller launched as an alternative to the popular and very liberal, Huffington Post, which features a broad range of subjects that go beyond politics and current events. Republican political consultant, Karl Rove, stated that "The Daily Caller is necessary reading for anyone who wants to be up to speed with what's going on with politics in America."
No Advertisements, Just Content
in 2012, Tucker Carlson’s The Daily Caller became profitable without its readers ever having to see a single ad. In July 2017, their traffic ranked at 711 in the U.S., and 2,364 in the world. In only 2 years, the site quadrupled its readership. Not too shabby.
Like any publication, not everything went smooth, The Daily Caller had a few controversies that made headlines. As a conservative publication, they go at the left pretty hard sometimes. Recently, in January 2019, The Daily Caller published a click-bait headline that misleads readers- "Here’s The Photo Some Described As A Nude Selfie Of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez." The photo was not in fact of the young politician. Ocasio-Cortez condemned The Daily Caller's for their "completely disgusting behavior." The Daily Caller later apologized and changed the headline.
Goodbye Bow Tie
Fun fact, Tucker Carlson's signature look was none other than- a bow tie. He started wearing a bow tie in 1984 when he was in tenth grade at St. George’s, Rhode Island prep school, as part of the school's dress code. He eventually stopped wearing them on April 11, 2006, saying, “If you wear a bow tie, it’s like [wearing] a middle finger around your neck; you’re just inviting scorn and ridicule… the number of people screaming the F-word at me… it wore me down after a while so I gave in and became conventional.”
Too bad, We're sure that if he would have kept the lookup for a while the bow tie would have made a comeback in fashion. Then, he would have been considered a trendsetter.
Carlson's Bow Tie In Pop Culture
In 2005, his bow tie was even referenced on a season five episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, when a character was referred to Larry David as “Tucker Carlson” because he was wearing a bow tie. Carlson should have taken it as a compliment that his signature look made it to the hit show! How many news anchors can say that?
Back when MSNBC advertised Carlson's program they made posters that read, “The Man. The Legend. The Bow Tie.” He had also been wearing a bow tie, in 2004, during the Jon Stewart controversy.
Carlson Puts On His Dancing Shoes
In 2006, conservative Tucker Carlson did the unthinkable to some- he joined the cast of the American dance competition television series - Dancing with the Stars (season 3). Why? You might ask yourself. “I’m not defending it as the smartest choice, but I think it’s the most interesting. I think if you sat back and tried to plan my career, you might not choose this. But my only criterion is the interest level. I want to lead an interesting life.” He added, “I’m 37. I’ve got four kids. I have a steady job. I don’t do things that I’m not good at very often. I’m psyched to get to do that.” However, he and Elena Grinenko, his dance partner, were the first duo to be eliminated.
It's not every day that people of his stature step outside of their comfort zone, so we can at least give him an A for effort.
(He Can't) Move Like Jagger
Carlson's dancing partner for the competition, Elena Grinenko, said that teaching Tucker how to dance was “like Einstein teaching addition to a slow child”. We're not sure if she was just teasing him or if she was sore because of their quick elimination. You win some, you lose some.
Carlson took the good memories with him stating in an interview he would miss the dance classes. In preparation for the competition, he took ballroom dance classes for four hours a day. He also admitted his difficulties, saying "It's hard for me to remember the moves."
Carlson's Tell All
Back in 2003, Tucker Carlson wrote a memoir titled, Politicians, Partisans, and Parasites: My Adventures in Cable News, all about his TV news experiences which he published through Warner Books. In his autobiography, he revealed how he was falsely accused of raping a woman he didn’t know, a who was suffering from mental illness and displayed stalker-like behavior towards him. He described it as a traumatizing event in his life.
The rising awareness of sexual misconduct thanks to the #MeToo movement, has made it harder for men in positions of power to take advantage of women. That being said, sometimes men feel that their guilty before proven innocent, so Carlson was lucky to clear his name. Even a false allegation is enough to ruin a person's career.
Coming Soon To Bookstores Near You
That wouldn't be the last book the young scholar would author. In May 2017, he signed an eight-figure, two-book deal, with Simon & Schuster’s Threshold Editions. His book first book of the deal- Ship of Fools: How a Selfish Ruling Class is Bringing America to the Brink of Revolution, was released in October 2018. It debuted #1 on the famous New York Times Best Seller List. What a great start for an author. Now there will surely be high expectations for his next book.
The book's cover shows caricatures of Democratic politicians Hillary Clinton, Maxine Waters, and Nancy Pelosi; Republican politicians Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham; journalist Bill Kristol; and tech moguls Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos and.
LGBT Rights
Contrary to what you might think when you thing of a right-winged conservative, Tucker Carlson isn’t against gay marriage. As a matter of fact, on an episode of his show in 2007, he said, “I’m just for marriage generally. I’m for people making a lifelong commitment. Do you know what I mean? I’m not against gay marriage, actually, and I’m the most right-wing person I know.” Carlson then added, “I think, marriage has been a great thing for me, and I think it’s a really civilizing force, and I think it would be a civilizing force for gay people too.”
See, not all conservatives are bigots like some liberals may think.
Not Afraid Of Russia
Despite the emerging evidence and data, in Carlson's opinion, Russia is not a real threat to the United States of America. Moreover, he Carlson believes that the U.S. should work alongside Russia to combat the Syrian Civil War. Journalists like Peter Beinart of the Atlantic, call Carlson an “apologist for Donald Trump on the Russia scandal”. Carlson described the controversy of Donald Trump Jr. accepting the anti-Clinton information from a Russian government official as a “new level of hysteria” and said that Trump Jr. is guilty of nothing more than “gossiping with foreigners.”
Either Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson go way back, so he's trying not to ridicule his friend in the public eye, or he truly believes that no harm was done.
Public Opinion
As you've probably already guessed, not everyone is a fan of Carlson’s views. The New York Times, James Poniewozik, definitely isn't. He once stated that “Mr. Carlson does not seek to interview his subjects but to defeat them … He shifts topics to imply hypocrisies … He prods, pounces, guffaws and interrupts … The camera holds tight on his face to show every squint of bemusement, contempt, and confusion. (His default face is that of a bear puzzling out how to get at a beehive.) A long ‘Ohhhhh’ means he believes a guest has just let slip a secret agenda. ‘I agree with you!’ means he does not agree at all.”
Wow, Poniewozik sure did scrutinize Carlson's interviewing skills with that statement. Carlson says that he's usually unphased by that kind of criticism.
Climate Change, "Myth"?
This one may even be amusing some, but Carlson doesn't believe in the concept of climate change. He says that it is “unknowable” whether human activities even contribute to changes in our environment.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I think someone should take out of the newsroom to take a better look to what going on in the natural world.
Criticized 2000 Presidential Candidate John McCain
When asked by Salon.com about late John McCain, Carlson had harsh words to share about him, saying “I liked McCain. And I would have voted for McCain for president happily, not because I agree with his politics; I never took McCain’s politics seriously enough even to have strong feelings about them. I don’t think McCain has very strong politics. He’s interested in ideas almost as little as George W. Bush is. McCain isn’t intellectual, and doesn’t have a strong ideology at all. He’s wound up sort of as a liberal Republican because he’s mad at other Republicans, not because he’s a liberal.”
When former U.S. Senator John Mccain died in August 2018, it didn't change Carlson's views about him. After the senator's death, Carlson spent a little less than three minutes “remembering” him on his segment and then went to attack the media for criticizing the way President Donald Trump failed to properly honor Mccain.
"Not A True Conservative"
Amongst his other controversial statements are was when he said that former U.S. President, George W. Bush, is “not a true conservative”. On August 27, 2004, during a Washington Post interview, Carlson talked about his “displeasure with Bush”, and asked “Why do so many antiwar liberals give [John] Kerry a pass when he adopts the Bush view on Iraq, as he has? The amount of team-playing on the left depresses me.”
Like many residents of the Washington, D.C., Carlson is a registered member of the Democratic Party. The Washington Post explained that it is common for voters in heavily-Democratic areas to register with the Democrats in order to be able to vote in important primary elections. In 2017, Carlson stated in an interview that he registered for the Democratic Party to gain the right to vote in District of Columbia mayoral elections, in which he "always votes for the more corrupt candidate over the idealist", sounds strategic.
You Won't Get My Vote
When it came around for the 2004 election, Carlson did not vote! He explained that he was completely disgusted with how George Bush handled the Iraq War and the small-government Republican Party. He added, “I don’t know what you consider conservative, but I’m not much of a liberal, at least as the word is currently defined. For instance, I’m utterly opposed to abortion, which I think is horrible and cruel. I think affirmative action is wrong. I’d like to slow immigration pretty dramatically. I hate all nanny state regulations, such as seat belt laws and smoking bans. I’m not for big government. I think the U.S. ought to hesitate before intervening abroad. I think these are conservative impulses. So by my criteria, Bush isn’t much of a conservative.”
In the U.S. everyone has the right to protest, and not voting was Carlson's way of conducting a peaceful protest. This was a surprising statement, coming form someone so involved in politics. He must have felt very passionate about his disliking of the nomenees not to have excersied his right to vote.
Immigration Policy
Speaking of immigration, Carlson has mentioned many times his views on immigration. He believes they should be more strict. In the past, he's actually been accused of demonizing both documented and undocumented immigrants. News organizations like The Washington Post and Huffington Post, have called him out on his views on a few occasions. If you think Carlson cares...you're wrong, if anything, this type of criticism fuels him. Muha-ha-haa
In 2018, Carlson implied that mass immigration makes the United States "dirtier", "poorer" and "more divided". When criticized for his opinion of this, he has said "we plan to try to say what's true until the last day. And the truth is, unregulated mass immigration has badly hurt this country's natural landscape. No apologies were given.
From Supporter To Protestor
Initially, Carlson supported the Iraq war, bus his views took a sharp turn. He told the New York Observer “I think it’s a total nightmare and disaster, and I’m ashamed that I went against my own instincts in supporting it. It’s something I’ll never do again. Never. I got convinced by a friend of mine who’s smarter than I am, and I shouldn’t have done that. No. I want things to work out, but I’m enraged by it, actually.”
Like you read before, the issues surrounding the Iraq war was one of the main reasons Carlson stopped supporting former president George W. Bush.
Family Guy
Tucker Carlson and his wife, Susan Andrews, have been married for over 25 years. They have four children together- Lillie, Hopie, and Dorothy, and a son- Buckley. He and his beautiful family live in a farmhouse in Alexandria. They renovated the modest house to what it the dream home it is today.
Though Tucker hoped for his home to be a place of sanctuary, it has been a target for protestors who oppose his blatant political views. Everyone is entitled to their opions, but that's not to see it doesn't come with a price.
Trump Supporter
As one of the most outspoken conservatives on air and avid Trump supporter, Tucker Carlson does not really care about being politically correct, to say the least. While he gets ridiculed on a weekly basis it seems, he too, has his share of criticism for the views of mainstream conservatism, referring to it as “insufficiently conservative.”
Carlson would like to believe that if more people in the media had his views it would "Make America Great Again".
Family Secret
Susan Carlson’s father, Rev. George E. Andrews, was the headmaster of St George’s school between the years of 1984 – 1989, he then became headmaster at the St. Andrew’s School until 2007 when he retired. In 206h, Susan's father was accused of not having reported a teacher to the authorities of allegations of sexual assault. An investigation that took place concluded that Andrews had actually fired him but was not aware of the extent of his assaults and therefore had not broken any laws under the Rhode Island state law.
Despite the controversy, old students of Rev. George E. Andrew, like Grant Dubler, had good memories of the former headmaster, "Rev. Andrews fused life into the school like no other headmaster has ever done," Dubler said. "He was someone you could look to like a wise, grandfatherly figure. But he could be fun, too. Like the time, in shirt and tie, he jumped in the lake and swam across. For a second, we lost sight of him, then we saw his red socks bobbing up and down."
Father's Blessing
If you remember, we mentioned that Carlson and his wife met at St George’s, where Susan's father was headmaster. While at St. Andrews, Carlson asked Rev. Andrews for his blessing to marry his daughter, six months before he graduated. The couple carried on dating after high school and college, “All very 19th-century, but a good thing to do,” Carlson said during a People Magazine interview. “She was the cutest 10th grader in America.”
Even when it comes to romance Carlson is a traditional type of guy. It's not as common to ask for a man his girlfriend's father permission to marry her. In the 21st century, women can choose themselves who they want to marry, but the gesture was respectful and considering the time.
Oprah Ban
If you thought it was impossible for someone to find something bad to say about the philanthropist, former talk show host, and current OWN network owner, Oprah Winfrey- you're wrong. Carlson claims that the Oprah show is ‘anti-male’, saying “When I had a son, I stopped watching Oprah because it was just too anti-male, and I felt like I didn’t want to bring him up in a home where Oprah was constantly attacking men. And remember, keep your boys away from Oprah and it will make them feel bad about being male. It’s absolutely true. Keep your girls away from rap, keep your boys away from Oprah. And everybody will be fine.”
Who would have known that Oprah and rap music had something in common? Leave it up to Mr. Carlson.
Double Jeopardy
In 2004, Tucker Carlson made an appearance on Jeopardy! Carlson participated on behalf of Camp Wawenock’s scholarship fund, an all-girls camp for 8 to 17-year-olds. “Lillie Carlson is at UVA, Buckley is a junior at St. George’s, Hopie Carlson is in 8th grade and Dorothy is in 5th grade,” his wife, Susan, once wrote in the newsletter. “Time passes too quickly. I think of you all often. How grateful I am for your energy, thoughtfulness, and enthusiasm in spreading Wawenock spirit. Wawenock Spirit never dies!”
Jeopardy, Dancing With The Stars... Carlson isn't afraid to leave the newsroom and try new things. Wonder what his trivia knowledge is like?
Views From The Left
Despite some of Carlson's extremely right-winged conservative views, there are some topics he actually sees eye-to-eye on with liberal. He has been a long time supporter of same-sex marriage, back when it was a very unpopular opinion, and way before it law in the United States.
Even Tucker Carlson can see how absurd it is to tell two grow-ups to who they should marry, and he does use his platform to share that message to his fellow conservatives. Bravo!
Deadhead
This may come as a surprise to some, but Tucker Carlson is a huge 'Deadhead', a fan of the rock band the Grateful Dead. If you know anything about the band, you know that it's sound is rather unorthodox and usually encore other music genres like modal jazz, bluegrass, country, folk, blues, and even reggae. Probably not the music you'd expect a conservative Republican to groove to.
In a 2005 interview, Carlson admitted to have attended more than 50 of their concerts- now that's what we call a hardcore fan!