{{Short description|American television journalist (born 1980)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Courtney Friel | image = Courtney Friel with FOX News Channel microphone 20070630.jpg | caption = Friel in June 2007 | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1980|4|22|mf=yes}} | birth_place = [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | education = [[San Diego State University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]]) | occupation = News anchor and reporter and author | title = Weekend evening news anchor for [[KTLA]] ([[Los Angeles]]) | spouse = {{Ubl | {{marriage|[[Carter Evans]]|2005|2016|end=divorced}} | {{Marriage|Jim Hecht|2020}}<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://stillabae.com/courtney-friel-wedding-the-ktla-anchor-marries-jim/|title=Courtney Friel Wedding: KTLA Anchor and Jim Hecht Tie Knots|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|website=BAE Magazine|date=October 12, 2020 }}</ref> }} | children = 2 | website = {{url|courtneyfriel.com}} }}
'''Courtney Friel''' (born April 22, 1980)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.echo-oran.com/courtney-friel-wealth-annual-income-monthly-income-weekly-income-and-daily-income/|title=Courtney Friel Wealth Annual Income, Monthly Income, Weekly Income, and Daily Income {{!}} Celebrity Net Worth & Stats|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-12}}</ref> is an [[News presenter|anchor]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/was-this-ex-fox-news-anchor-courtney-friel-benched-for-accusing-trump|title=Was This Ex-Fox News Anchor Benched for Accusing Trump?|last=Jong-Fast|first=Molly|date=2020-01-09|access-date=2020-01-12|language=en}}</ref> and reporter on television<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-ex-fox-newser-courtney-friel-absent-anchor-after-trump-claim-20200109-7ldrji653bfddmgegaosyg4amq-story.html|title=Ex-Fox Newser Courtney Friel noticeably absent from KTLA anchor chair after accusing President Trump of sexual advance|last=Dillon|first=Nancy|website=New York Daily News|date=January 9, 2020 |access-date=2020-01-12}}</ref> in the U.S. She currently works for [[KTLA]] in [[Los Angeles]].
Friel previously covered entertainment for [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] owned-and-operated station [[KTTV]] in Los Angeles, as well as other local stations and also the [[Fox News]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Ariens|first=Chris|url=https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/courtney-friel-moving-west-for-fox/|title=Courtney Friel Moving West for Fox|publisher=Mediabistro.com|date=2011-11-22|access-date=2012-08-27}}</ref> Prior to her move to Los Angeles, Friel was the entertainment reporter at Fox News Channel, contributing to a number of entertainment-related programs for the network's website, FoxNews.com. She was a frequent guest contributor on the Fox News late-night satire show ''[[Red Eye (talk show)|Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld]]''.
==Early life and education== Friel attended [[Methacton High School]] in [[Eagleville, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania|Eagleville, Pennsylvania]], where she regularly made the televised morning announcements and was active in the school's media production class. After submitting a short video, she was chosen to appear in [[Channel One News]] student-produced week{{clarify|date=June 2020}} in Los Angeles.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}
Friel earned a [[Bachelor of Arts]] in [[political science]] from [[San Diego State University]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://awesomejelly.com/the-most-beautiful-news-anchors-on-television-t2/|title=29 Of The Most Beautiful News Anchors On Television • Page 21 of 30|date=2020-01-10|website=AwesomeJelly.com|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-12}}</ref>
==Career== Friel was a sports anchor and entertainment reporter for [[GoTV]] Mobile Television, as well as the hostess for the [[World Poker Tour]] on the [[Travel Channel]]. She hosted GameStop/EBGames "EB TV" which boasted of recently released and upcoming video games. Before that, she co-anchored [[TruTV|Court TV]]'s ''The Saturday Night Solution''. She also worked as a field reporter for various networks including [[E!]], [[Oxygen Channel]] and [[Comcast Cable]], the [[World Poker Tour]], as well as the syndicated program ''[[Extra (American TV TV program)|Extra]]''.
She worked as an anchor at ABC affiliate [[WBBJ-TV]] in [[Jackson, Tennessee]] in 2003. Friel arrived at WBBJ during the [[May 2003 tornado outbreak sequence]], and covered the devastation in Jackson. She joined Fox News Channel in February 2007. She has appeared in ''[[Maxim (magazine)|Maxim]]'' and ''[[FHM]]''. She stated on the November 22, 2011 ''[[Red Eye (talk show)|Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld]]'' show that she would be moving to Fox News' Los Angeles bureau.{{Citation needed|date=December 2013}} She has appeared on TV shows and movies such as ''[[Veep]]'', ''[[Goliath (TV series)|Goliath]]'', and ''[[XXX: Return of Xander Cage]]''.
==Personal life== Friel was previously married to [[Carter Evans]], a correspondent for [[CBS News]], with whom she has two children.<ref>{{cite web|first=Andrea |last= Roth| url=http://celebritybabies.people.com/2011/01/03/courtney-friel-carter-evans-welcome-son-cash-hudson|title=Courtney Friel, Carter Evans Welcome Son| website=[[People (magazine)|People.com]]|access-date=2011-01-04}}</ref> The couple divorced in 2016. She remarried in October 2020 to Jim Hecht.<ref name="auto"/> Courtney released an autobiography entitled ''Tonight at 10: Kicking Booze and Breaking News'' that details her past drug and alcohol addictions.<ref name="Friel will return">{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2020/01/courtney-friel-donald-trump-book-ktla-return-1202826118/|title=KTLA Anchor Courtney Friel, Who Included Trump Claim In New Memoir, Will Return To Air, Nexstar Says|author=Ted Johnson|website=Deadline|date=January 9, 2020 |access-date=10 January 2020}}</ref> It was announced in August 2020 that Zero Gravity had obtained the film rights to turn the memoir into a biopic.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2020/film/news/fox-news-reporter-courtney-friel-biopic-1234740706/|title=Biopic on Former Fox News Reporter Courtney Friel in the Works (EXCLUSIVE)|first1=Dave|last1=McNary|date=August 20, 2020}}</ref>
==Bibliography== * ''Tonight At 10: Kicking Booze and Breaking News'' (Launch Pad Publishing, 2020) {{ISBN|9781951407155}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Official website|http://www.courtneyfriel.com/}} * [http://ktla.com/author/courtney-friel// Biography] at KTLA.com * [https://web.archive.org/web/20061110133611/http://www.worldpokertour.com/television/?x=hosts_courtney Profile] at WorldPokerTour.com * {{IMDb name|2077781|Courtney Friel}}
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{{Commons category|Courtney Friel}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friel, Courtney}} [[Category:1980 births]] [[Category:Fox News people]] [[Category:Journalists from Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Poker commentators]] [[Category:San Diego State University alumni]] [[Category:Television news anchors from Philadelphia]] [[Category:21st-century American women journalists]]