Jessica Tarlov may be known for Co hosting The Five,
but she never even wanted a TV career.
So how did she get here?
From growing up in a showbiz family to working with
a flashy politician,
Tarlov has a long history with the entertainment world.
You might wonder why on earth Jessica Tarlov took a
Co hosting job on Fox News's The Five.
After all, the Democrat is outnumbered by Republicans 4 to
one on the show.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times,
Tarlov expressed how she feels a duty to the show's
viewers to present the other side of the argument.
She told the outlet they're not spending their time finding
it elsewhere.
It's hard to tell people things they don't want to
hear.
It is my job and figuring out a way to
do it that will be listened to,
palatable and maybe even persuasive.
It's four on one, but showing up matters.
Tarlov, whose own friends and family have expressed bewilderment over
her choice of workplace,
insists that she enjoys being the lone outsider,
too. She explained the point of the show is that
it mimics real life.
I find it funny as long as I can ensure
that I am not actually thrown off and don't get
to finish my point.
I like the back and forth.
It's great to be part of the show that really
shows off that people on both sides of the aisle
can get along and have fun.
While the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting lockdown reportedly caused
a record number of couples to go their separate ways,
Tarlov experienced the complete opposite.
During this trying time, she found her soul mate.
And she didn't have to look too far,
either. During COVID-19, the Fox News regular began dating Brian
McKenna,
a hedge fund executive she'd only previously known as her
next door neighbor.
The pair soon got engaged.
Within a year, the couple walked down the aisle at
a relatively small ceremony.
By this point, Tarlov was already pregnant with their first
child,
Cleo, and in 2024 she told her the five colleagues
live on air that another baby was on the way.
Tarlov certainly has the right credentials to run for office
in the future.
She graduated from the London School of Economics with a
doctorate in government,
having previously achieved master's degrees in public policy and political
science.
In fact, compared to many of the politicians she comments
on as a Fox News regular,
you could argue that she's overqualified.
So it's a little surprise to learn that The New
Yorker has political ambitions far beyond the studio of the
Five.
In a chat with USA TODAY,
Tarlov explained that although she was happy focusing on her
TV work for now,
she hasn't left her roots behind,
she told the outlet. I think about running for office
someday and I know I'll always keep my foot in
the political door.
In 2021, Tarlov became a first time mother when she
and McKenna welcomed their daughter Cleo into the world.
Just a month later, she was appointed to the panel
of Fox News's flagship talk show,
The Five. Really thrilled to be joining the show.
In an interview with Carrie,
the political pundit revealed she felt judged for returning to
the workplace.
Tarlov shared. From whether you breastfed and for how long,
to whether you have a nanny or go to daycare,
it feels like everyone has an opinion and a criticism
for how you've decided to raise your baby and manage
your life.
Because I'm in the public eye,
people feel like they know me and can just let
it rip with their views.
As a result, Tarlov often suffered from the dreaded mom
guilt,
particularly when she ventured to South Korea on a work
assignment four months after giving birth.
Luckily, she soon found a way to stave off these
thoughts,
she told the Outlet. Leaning into the concept that if
you're not in a good place then you aren't of
much use to your baby was difficult,
but left me much happier in the end.
She might not get much of a chance to talk
about sports while discussing the day's hot button issues as
a political pundit,
However, Tarlov likes nothing better in her rare moments of
downtime than to watch the NBA.
When asked by Carrie which person she wished she could
have switched careers with,
she gave somewhat unexpected answer.
Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell Tarlov said.
I'm an NBA fanatic and his passing was very impactful.
To be such a great champion and a trailblazing civil
rights icon is such a special and important combination.
And Kareem Abdul Jabbar for the same reasons.
Tarlov may have been an admirer of Russell and Abdul
Jabbar's dribbling,
but when it comes to getting worked up over athletes,
she prefers one particular Spanish tennis player.
In a chat with Fox News,
she revealed that her all time celebrity crush was 22
time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal
while speaking to Bustle, the digital group she also serves
as senior vice president for.
Tarlov defiantly clapped back at those critics who argue that
her keen fashion sense takes the attention away from her
political commentary,
she told the outlet. My response is always the same.
I feel more fierce when I look fierce,
and when I feel more fierce,
I get better results. She also explained how exactly herself
Care approach positively effects her work.
My arguments are clearer, my energy is higher,
my political values are shinier.
Frankly, I make more of a difference.
Tarlov added that she was tired of hearing how fake
eyelashes and heels are a barrier to authority.
She further noted how Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is never
criticized for conducting his business in a hoodie,
telling the outlet nobody ever judges men on how they
dress.
So why on earth should anyone take me less seriously?
Tarlov is now a regular face on our screens thanks
to The Five.
But although she was raised in a showbiz family,
her father was a Hollywood producer and director,
while her mother is a writer.
Tarlov never wanted to be ATV star.
In a 2017 interview with Washingtonian,
Jessica explained that her younger sister had always been far
more interested in pursuing a career in the entertainment industry.
Molly Tarlov is now an actor best known for playing
Sadie Saxon in NT VS long running dramedy Awkward.
She has also appeared on the big screen in The
Supernatural horror film Haunting,
on Fraternity Row and her father's directorial debut Simply Irresistible.
Jessica is now proud to have joined her sister in
the on screen ranks.
In her Washingtonian interview, she also relished the fact that
she was being beamed into the nation's homes on a
weekly basis,
most notably Donald Trump's, who was president at the time.
Tarlov told the outlet. It feels really special and such
a unique opportunity because when President Obama was president,
he wasn't ever watching Fox News.
Tarlov might be renowned for opposing conservatives as a political
pundit on Fox News,
but during her stint living in the UK,
she actively helped a conservative rise to the most powerful
seat in the country.
After finishing her PhD at the London School of Economics,
Tarlov worked on future Prime Minister Boris
Johnson's 2012 campaign to be re elected as the city's
mayor.
In a piece she wrote for The Hill,
Tarlov explained what initially attracted her to such a role
riding.
In those days, Boris Johnson was known for his love
of cycling and dedication to greener transportation policies,
his tough on crime approach pledged to build more affordable
housing and fanaticism for making the London Olympics a triumph.
However, by the time Johnson was essentially forced to resign
as the head of the government in
2022, Tarlov realized that her early adulation had been misplaced,
referring to the European Union withdrawal her former boss had
helped to instigate.
She said Brexit also was the most glaring example of
how a politician who may have been regularly admonished for
his behavior but ultimately is loved for his candor,
quirkiness and brashness can fall from greatness.
The big Brexit sell, coupled with mismanagement,
lies and sidestepping of other issues all added up to
a huge betrayal.
Tarlov's career has taken her to some unexpected places,
from Boris Johnson's mayoral re election campaign to the cutthroat
world of Fox News.
She has her mom, Judy and father Mark to thank
for all this unpredictability.
When asked by USA TODAY who her biggest mentors in
life were,
Tarlov didn't hesitate in naming her parents,
adding. They're brilliant, bold thinkers that always pushed me to
experiment academically and professionally.
Having support to take a zigzag path to get where
you're going and to be cool with not knowing where
you're going at all has made each phase of my
career that much better. Her father Mark,
certainly took the zigzag approach himself,
having worked as a lawyer,
Hollywood producer and winemaker throughout his professional life.
But his work ethic isn't the only thing Jessica has
taken inspiration from.
Tarlov also described her father's marriage to her mom as
hashtag relationship goals.
The couple's life together only came to an end in
2021 when Mark died from cancer.
You might expect that a liberal commentator who works on
Fox News would be used to getting Flack from the
other end of the political spectrum.
But then again, receiving scathing criticism from the reigning president
of the United States is something else.
And that's exactly what Jessica Tarlov had to deal with
when Donald Trump delivered a pointed review of her performance
on The Five.
In an interview with Bustle,
Tarlov admitted she was left blindsided by the
45th president's harsh remarks, saying according to Trump,
the show is great. Except for me,
I'm terrible. I'm always wrong and my voice,
this is unendurable. I think that was the term he
used.
It was really hurtful, He said.
I had a jittery presentation,
which is something I'm quite self-conscious about.
But yeah, it's hurtful. You can't change who you are.
But thanks to support from her mom and best friend,
Tarlov was able to turn Trump's remarks into a positive,
she told Bustle. I tried to get to a place
where I could see Trump's criticism as a compliment.
Someone with so much power was paying attention to what
I was doing,
and I was doing a good enough job that he
couldn't focus on the facts.
He had to go after a superficial thing like my
voice.