Shepard Smith has come out as a gay man in a new interview.
The popular Fox News anchor, who has been with the network since it first launched 20 years ago, spoke about his sexuality in an interview with Huffington Post.
Smith, 52, confirmed the long-circulating rumor when he was asked if it was former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes who prevented him from coming out of the closet.
‘That’s not true. He was as nice as he could be to me. I loved him like a father,’ Smith said of Ailes.
The ‘love’ Smith had for his old boss is why it was so difficult for him to deal with the network’s sexual harassment scandal this past summer.
‘I trusted him with my career and with – I trusted him and trusts were betrayed,’ Smith said of Ailes.
‘People outside this company can’t know [how painful that betrayal was]. This place has its enemies, but inside, it was very personal, and very scarring and horrifying.’
It was Gawker that reported back in 2014 that Smith wanted to publicly come out but was told he could not after speaking with Ailes.
‘This came up during contract negotiations,’ a Fox insider told the website.
‘Shep wanted to and was ready to come out, and Roger just said ‘no.”
That was not the case at all though according to Smith, who also shot down past reports which claimed that Ailes had made homophobic comments and remarks in his presence.
‘He treated me with respect, just respect,’ said Smith of Ailes.
‘I wasn’t new in the business when I came here – I’d been doing reporting for 12 years – but I wasn’t old in it either, and he gave me every opportunity in the world and he never asked anything of me but that we get it right, try to get it right every day.’
Smith then added: ‘It was a very warm and loving and comfortable place.’
Ailes and Smith also released a joint statement after Gawker published their story two years ago, stating: ‘As colleagues and close friends at Fox News for 18 years, our relationship has always been rooted in a mutual respect, deep admiration, loyalty, trust, and full support both professionally and personally.’
That changed for Smith however when Gretchen Carlson filed a lawsuit this past July accusing Ailes of sexual harassment.
In the wake of that lawsuit, more women came forward with their own claims about Ailes, including another Fox News host, Andrea Tantaros.