Laura Ingraham, born June 19, 1963, in Glastonbury, Connecticut, grew up in a working-class family as the youngest of four and the only daughter. At Dartmouth, she became the first female editor-in-chief of the conservative Dartmouth Review, where the paper’s “provocative tone” drew national attention and even a libel battle.

After college, she worked as a White House speechwriter, then earned a law degree at the University of Virginia. She clerked for Judge Ralph Winter and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, but colleagues at a top law firm thought she was “too forceful” for a legal career.

In the mid-1990s, Ingraham shifted to media, hosting Watch It! on MSNBC and later The Laura Ingraham Show, which aired on hundreds of radio stations. The Clinton–Lewinsky scandal helped her emerge as one of the rising “pundettes” of conservative commentary.

Her Fox News show, The Ingraham Angle, debuted in 2017, quickly averaging 2.6 million viewers and ranking among cable’s top programs. She has also authored several bestsellers and co-founded the conservative website LifeZette.

Never married, Ingraham battled breast cancer in 2005, later announcing “the coast is clear.” A strong advocate of adoption, she is the mother of three children—Maria, Dmitri, and Nikolai.