Gretchen Carlson on her sexual harassment lawsuit against Roger Ailes: ‘I have absolutely no regrets’

When Gretchen Carlson sued Roger Ailes in 2016, alleging that he fired her for rejecting his sexual advances, she didn’t know what the future would bring.

The former Fox News anchor had spent more than two decades building a renowned career. A Stanford graduate whose other accomplishments include award-winning violin performances and a Miss America title, Carlson spent 11 years at Fox News. Before that, she worked at CBS and in various other newsrooms across the US.

Carlson rose through the ranks in an era when women – no matter their professional reputation – didn’t speak out against their often male bosses. And in the rare instances women did come forward, their careers were all but over.

But Carlson said just last week: “I have absolutely no regrets.”

“I had no idea what was going to happen to me when I actually filed it 10 years ago,” Carlson said of her bombshell 6 July 2016 civil complaint. “I thought I might be crying my eyes out for the rest of my life.”

“Immediately I found purpose,” said Carlson, who has spent the last decade advocating for survivors’ rights. Carlson and Julie Roginsky, who also sued Ailes, co-founded Lift Our Voices in 2019.

“Our main mission is to eradicate silencing mechanisms in the workplace. It’s that simple.”

Lift Our Voices has pushed for legislation to end nondisclosure agreements and forced arbitration in relation to these issues. They have already seen successes: then president Joe Biden in 2022 signed into law the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act.

The legislation gives all sexual assault and harassment survivors the right to sue in court against their abusers, instead of being forced into secretive private arbitration. While this law did not eliminate present or past arbitration claims, the legislation applied retroactively.

So, if a survivor didn’t file a sexual misconduct claim as of 3 March 2022, and it fell within their state’s statute of limitations, they did not have to enter arbitration. The bipartisan Speak Out Act, green-lit by Biden in 2022, bars “predispute” nondisclosure and non-disparagement agreements for both survivors and witnesses of sexual assault and harassment.

Joe Biden sitting at desk surrounded by applauding women.

This law affects “all contracts past, present and future” if the sexual misconduct claim was filed after 7 December 2022, according to Lift Our Voices. The legislation also invalidates then-existing nondisclosure and non-disparagement agreements relating to sexual assault and harassment if they did not already launch a legal claim.

Lift Our Voices is also working with researchers to assess what these laws have done for survivors – and examine the impact of silencing mechanisms.

“We, as Americans, have no idea what the mental health impact has been on people facing these kinds of experiences in their life, and on top of that, being silenced about it,” Carlson said. “We know it can’t be good.”

She then added: “I always say that I may never own my own story, because I’m still under a very stringent NDA, which is why I can’t talk about the details of my case, but the work that I do every day is helping millions of people. It gives me great happiness to know that all of these other people have the possibility of getting justice. It’s work I never thought I’d be doing, but it gives me great, great satisfaction.”

While Carlson is limited in what she can say about her lawsuit – which prompted numerous women to come forward against Ailes, resulting in his departure and a reported $20m settlement paid by Fox News – court filings detail alleged mistreatment.

Carlson’s suit alleged that Ailes fired her after she rebuffed his overtures, claiming that the then network boss “sabotaged her career because she refused his sexual advances and [she] complained about severe and pervasive sexual harassment”.

Ailes retaliated by torpedoing her work at Fox News, the suit alleges. She received fewer assignments for high-profile interviews and lost her routine segment on Bill O’Reilly’s nightly show. Carlson’s suit claimed that she was repeatedly snubbed for promotions and suffered a decrease in pay after she started hosting The Real Story With Gretchen Carlson.

This lawsuit alleged that Ailes engaged in a campaign of “ostracizing, marginalizing and shunning” Carlson and then firing her on 23 June 2016 – the end date of her contract. Carlson’s suit also said that she confronted Ailes on his boorish behavior nine months before her firing.

A woman behind a sign the reads ‘End Forced Arbitration’

During this meeting, the suit said, Ailes directly propositioned Carlson.

“I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you’d be good and better and I’d be good and better,” Ailes said, according to the complaint. “Sometimes problems are easier to solve.”

Carlson’s suit also alleged that her former co-host Steve Doocy fomented a hostile work environment, “regularly treating her in a sexist and condescending way”. Doocy, she said, once placed his hand on Carlson’s arm “to shush her during a live telecast”.

Carlson alleged that Doocy acted as if she was a “blond female prop”, making fun of her during commercial breaks. When they were off air, Carlson’s suit said, Doocy disrespected her.

Carlson complained to Ailes, per the suit. He allegedly blamed her, saying Carlson viewed life through a lens where it “only rains on women”. Carlson’s suit also alleged that Ailes engaged in “ogling” her in his office.

Ailes, the suit stated, told her to turn around “so he could view her posterior”. He also reacted to Carlson’s complaints by describing her as a “man hater” and “killer” who had to “get along with the boys”.

Fox News declined to comment.

Carlson lauds the survivors who came forward in the years since her suit and credits them with the advent of the #MeToo movement. High-profile figures who once seemed immune to justice – from Harvey Weinstein to Jeffrey Epstein to Ghislaine Maxwell to R Kelly to P Diddy, among others – were being held to account.

“Without the survivors, this would have never happened,” she said.

And while there have been instances of men accused of abuse who have managed to maintain their prominence – such as Donald Trump – Carlson rejects claims that #MeToo has failed.

“The media should be held accountable for putting out headlines like that,” Carlson said. “It’s very easy to write a headline, ‘Me Too is dead’ – maybe that gets more clicks and more eyeballs – but it’s disingenuous to the movement.

“It’s disingenuous to the work of survivors on a daily basis. It’s disingenuous to their experience in finding the courage to come forward,” she said. “What do those headlines say to somebody who’s contemplating right now whether or not they should blow up their life and come forward? It pretty much tells them: why bother?

“Right now, it’s so frustrating for people who work in this space to continually hear that it’s dead, and it hasn’t come as far as it should have.”

In 100 years, Carlson insisted, people will recognize how much progress was made in so short a period of time.

“You have so many people working in this space who, like me, are like relentless. I never give up on anything,” Carlson said. “Check back in with me in another 10 years, because I can hardly wait to tell you about the immense progress that we’ve made since 2026.”

The Guardian wp:paragraph