Jane Fonda was the first name Megyn Kelly recalled when discussing celebrities who had left her with an unfavorable impression. The former NBC and Fox News host also singled out Bruce Willis, Al Roker and Ellen DeGeneres.
Kelly made the comments in a Daily Mail interview published in late December 2025. Her remarks resurfaced in an October 24, 2026, Just Jared article.
She also remembered celebrities who had treated her warmly. According to Us Weekly’s January 1 coverage, Kelly praised Jada Pinkett Smith’s sincerity during a 2018 interview and described Russell Brand and Milo Yiannopoulos as friendly toward her.
Kathie Lee Gifford received particular credit for supporting Kelly during an unhappy period at NBC. Kelly said Gifford took her out and met her family when she felt unwelcome among colleagues.
Kelly Says Redford’s Representative Asked Her to Avoid Sex Scenes
Fonda and Robert Redford appeared on Megyn Kelly Today on September 27, 2017, to promote the Netflix drama Our Souls at Night.
After discussing their work together, Kelly asked Fonda about cosmetic surgery. The actress questioned why the subject was coming up and redirected the conversation toward the movie.
In the Daily Mail interview, Kelly said Redford’s representative had asked her beforehand to avoid discussing the actors’ sex scenes because he was uncomfortable with the topic. She said she chose cosmetic surgery as an alternative because Fonda had spoken publicly about it.
Kelly also claimed Fonda had wanted to discuss the intimate scenes and was unhappy that she had steered elsewhere. That interpretation came from Kelly, rather than from anything Fonda said during the broadcast.
Fonda gave her own explanation to ET Canada after the appearance. With limited interview time and Redford sitting beside her, she considered surgery a strange subject to introduce.
She acknowledged having procedures and discussing them previously, but called this the “wrong time and place,” as TheWrap reported.
Kelly Recalled Willis as an Unwilling Interview Guest
Kelly dated her difficult encounter with Willis to a 2006 Fox News interview.
“He came on and was just so clearly unhappy to be there,” she said. Kelly described him as “so ungiving” and “so ungenerous,” questioning why he had agreed to participate.
She acknowledged feeling uncomfortable criticizing him given his later health difficulties.
Willis’ family disclosed his aphasia diagnosis in 2022. In a February 16, 2023, statement, they announced the more specific diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia and expressed hope that attention to his condition would help raise awareness of the disease.
Kelly’s Comment About Roker Left the Disagreement Unexplained
Kelly suggested that her mother would confront Roker if they met, comparing the hypothetical encounter to Larry David running into Alan Dershowitz on Martha’s Vineyard.
The former colleagues have a documented public disagreement. On October 24, 2018, Roker criticized Kelly’s comments the previous day questioning why blackface was unacceptable as part of a Halloween costume.
As ABC News reported, Roker said her apology to NBC staff was insufficient and explained blackface’s history in racist minstrel entertainment. Kelly apologized on her program later that morning.
NBC announced on October 26 that Megyn Kelly Today would not return. Kelly did not say whether that controversy was the reason for her subsequent remark about Roker.
Kelly’s Ellen Account Came From a Colleague’s Relative
Kelly’s criticism of DeGeneres relied on an account involving someone she had worked with whose close relative was a producer on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, according to IBTimes UK.
She alleged that employees were told to look at the floor if they encountered DeGeneres in a hallway. Kelly said she had heard the account before workplace complaints about the program became public in 2020. The reports quoting her did not independently corroborate it.
DeGeneres had disputed similar eye-contact allegations during an August 2020 staff meeting. According to Entertainment Tonight, she asked employees to speak to her and look at her, and apologized to anyone who felt ignored.
The broader workplace investigation found deficiencies in the show’s daily management, although not all allegations were corroborated, Warner Bros. said in a July 2020 statement. DeGeneres apologized to employees, and three senior producers subsequently left the program.