Fox News host Jesse Watters to divorce after cheating on wife with 25-year-old employee
Fox News is in sleazy Watters yet again.
The network’s prominent host Jesse Watters — who dined on Monday with President Trump — is in the midst of divorce due to an affair with a 25-year-old associate producer.
Watters’ wife, Noelle Watters, filed for divorce in October. The couple has twin girls.
Sources said the 39-year-old host informed the network of his adulterous relationship with Emma DiGiovine shortly after Noelle filed divorce papers.
DiGiovine was transferred to “The Ingraham Angle.”
DiGiovine and Watters are still dating, sources said. A woman at DiGiovine’s home in Cranford, N.J., declined to comment.
“Within 24 hours of Jesse Watters voluntarily reporting to the Chief of Human Resources in November 2017 that he was in a consensual relationship with a woman on his staff, management met with both parties and a decision was made for the woman to be transferred to work on another program on the network where she currently remains,” the spokesperson said.
Attorneys for both Noelle and Jesse Watters did not comment.
Sources said rumors of the host’s relationship with DiGiovine spread within the network late last year as both posted social media photos of their outings together, including on a Caribbean vacation.
Watters, who has been described as Fox News’ golden boy, tweeted a photo Thursday of a dinner menu from The White House signed by Trump.
“To Jesse you are great!” Trump wrote on the menu.
Former White House adviser Sebastian Gorka also attended the steak dinner, according to The Daily Beast.
The site quoted a source who said Trump invited Watters and Gorka because “he couldn’t get enough of them on TV.”
The meal came as the White House battles a claim in Los Angeles court that Trump had an affair with a porn star, Stormy Daniels, in 2006.
Watters has pursued his on-the-job romance as Fox News struggles to move on from a barrage of shocking allegations about its workplace culture. The network’s founder, Roger Ailes, was ousted in July 2016 amid allegations of sick sexual harassment and sexism.
Bill O’Reilly — a mentor to Watters — was ousted in April 2017 after it emerged he’d secretly settled multiple lawsuits regarding sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior.
O’Reilly’s exit resulted in a reshuffling of Fox News’ primetime lineup and Watters replaced Eric Bolling on “The Five.” Bolling got his own show but was ousted in September following a report he sent unsolicited photos of male genitalia to colleagues.
Watters met his now-estranged wife at Fox News. Noelle worked in the advertising and promotions department and was the host of a web show called iMag Style. The two married in 2009 and had twin girls in 2011, according to reports.
She didn’t return to Fox after maternity leave. Watters has discussed his marriage on-air. He said he was stunned when Noelle said she voted for then-President Barack Obama in 2012. It turned out she was joking.
“She got me good,” he recalled. But it wasn't a big deal, anyway, he added.
“The rule of thumb for guys is you can be a crazy tea party right-wing conservative, but if the girl is Communist and she’s hot, you’re in. I mean, it doesn’t matter, as long as she’s hot,” he said in the November 2014 segment on “Outnumbered.” A Fox News source said Jesse Watters is generally regarded as a good boss who treats staff well, unlike O'Reilly or Ingraham.
The source said DiGiovine's transfer to Ingraham's show appeared to be the proper way to handle the issue.
"To me, that's better than the coverups when Ailes and O'Reilly were around," the source said.
Fox News says it has strengthened its human resources department and implemented extensive sexual harassment training in the post-Ailes era.
More women are in executive roles than ever in the network's history.
As the network seeks to change, Watters represents a new generation of personalities at Fox News, Robert Thompson, professor of television and pop culture at Syracuse University, said.
The young star's "flamboyantly aggressive" macho personality highlighted the transition underway at the network.
"Watters really is a boast that while they're changing that workplace culture they are certainly not backing away from that attitude," Thompson said.
"This is a story about a creepy guy who behaved in creepy ways — which shouldn't surprise us because that's how he presents himself."
Watters was hired by Fox News in 2001 and by 2003 he was a staffer on O’Reilly’s show. In July 2014, he called voters who are single women “Beyoncé voters” after her “Single Ladies” hit.
“They depend on government because they’re not depending on their husbands,” he said. “They need things like contraception, health care and they love to talk about equal pay.”
Watters also filled the role of “political humorist” on “The O’Reilly Factor.”
His conservative humor bombed in October 2016 when he filmed a segment in Chinatown full of racist stereotypes. He greeted a Chinatown resident with a bow and asked another if he knew karate.
Watters later apologized.
His show, “Watters World,” went weekly in January 2017, cementing his status as a rising star at the network. The far-right funnyman landed in hot water again in April 2017 when he made what appeared to be a lewd comment about Ivanka Trump.
“I really liked how she was speaking into that microphone,” he said, while making a vulgar gesture. He took a vacation after the controversy, saying he hadn’t meant to be offensive.
“During the break we were commenting on Ivanka’s voice and how it was low and steady and resonates like a smooth jazz radio DJ,” Watters said. “This was in no way a joke about anything else."
WITH EDGAR SANDOVAL, ESHA RAY
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