Courtney Friel (born April 22, 1980) is an

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ', which itself comes from the Greek (). Anch ...

and reporter on television in the U.S. She currently works for

KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Friel previously covered entertainment for Fox owned-and-operated station

KTTV KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. It is owned a ...

in Los Angeles, as well as other local stations and also the

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

. 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 w/ Greg Gutfeld ''Red Eye'' (also known as ''Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld'' from 2007 to 2015 and ''Red Eye w/ Tom Shillue'' from 2015 to 2017) is an American late-night/early-morning satirical talk show on Fox News, which aired at 3:00 a.m. ET Tuesday throug ...

''.

Early life and education

Friel attended Methacton High School in 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 in Los Angeles. Friel earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

from

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

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 Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, who previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in Manhattan, with ...

. She hosted GameStop/EBGames "EB TV" which boasted of recently released and upcoming video games. Before that, she co-anchored

Court TV Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former pay-television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cover ...

's ''The Saturday Night Solution''. She also worked as a field reporter for various networks including E!,

Oxygen Channel Oxygen (branded on air as Oxygen True Crime) is an American cable and digital multicast television network owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group unit of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast. The network primarily airs true crime television series ...

and Comcast Cable, the World Poker Tour, as well as the syndicated program ''

Extra Extra, Xtra, or The Extra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * The Extra (1962 film), ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * The Extra (2005 film), ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * Extra (newspaper), ...

''. She worked as an anchor at ABC affiliate WBBJ-TV in

Jackson, Tennessee Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis and 130 Miles Southwest of Nashville, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population wa ...

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 Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment *Maxim (magazine), ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** Maxim (Australia), ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** Maxim (India), ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition *Maxim ...

'' and '' FHM''. She stated on the November 22, 2011 ''

'' show that she would be moving to Fox News' Los Angeles bureau. She has appeared on TV shows and movies such as ''

Veep ''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci. The series follows Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the fictional Vice Pres ...

'', ''

Goliath Goliath ( ) was a Philistines, Philistine giant in the Book of Samuel. Descriptions of Goliath's giant, immense stature vary among biblical sources, with texts describing him as either or tall. According to the text, Goliath issued a challen ...

'', and '' XXX: Return of Xander Cage''.

Personal life

Friel was previously married to Carter Evans, a correspondent for

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

, with whom she has two children. The couple divorced in 2016. She remarried in October 2020 to Jim Hecht. Courtney released an autobiography entitled ''Tonight at 10: Kicking Booze and Breaking News'' that details her past drug and alcohol addictions. It was announced in August 2020 that Zero Gravity had obtained the film rights to turn the memoir into a biopic.

Bibliography

* ''Tonight At 10: Kicking Booze and Breaking News'' (Launch Pad Publishing, 2020)

References

External links

*
Biography
at KTLA.com
Profile
at WorldPokerTour.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Friel, Courtney 1980 births 21st-century American women American women journalists Fox News people Journalists from Pennsylvania Living people Poker commentators San Diego State University alumni Television anchors from Philadelphia