Janice Dean has broken her silence on former friend Megyn Kelly.
Dean, 54, who spent more than a decade as a Fox News meteorologist before leaving the network in 2021, said she had tried to ignore Kelly’s previous on-air attacks but drew the line when the SiriusXM host mocked Christina Applegate’s multiple sclerosis misdiagnosis. Dean herself has battled MS for 23 years and has been hospitalized repeatedly in recent weeks.
“I’m sick of her using her platform to put people down… She goes to the lowest denominator and constantly put women down,” Dean said in the interview.
Kelly, 54, had targeted Applegate on her podcast after the “Dead to Me” actress revealed doctors initially misdiagnosed her with MS before determining she suffered from a different condition. “She’s crying now because I guess she no longer gets to be the face of this disease, and as she says, she’s back to ‘square one.’ She’s made like a cottage industry of talking about her MS,” Kelly said on her SiriusXM show.
Dean responded on X, where she called Kelly a “mean girl” and wrote: “She used to be one of my closest friends… Her comments about [Applegate] are disgusting.”
The former weather anchor expanded on her social media post in her conversation with the outlet, calling Kelly’s remarks “so heartless for a woman misdiagnosed and doesn’t know where to turn.”
“[MS] is a very misunderstood disease. We have no cure. It saps you of everything when you’re not feeling well. It took my job away from me,” Dean said, adding that she is grateful for celebrities like Applegate who publicly discuss their health struggles.
“I want to say more in defense of the people, who put their reputations on the line, and their body of work to say, ‘I’m vulnerable and I’m sick’… It’s the loneliest place you can be – to hear [Applegate] cry and have Megyn Kelly use that against her is disgusting,” she continued.
Dean also offered a theory about Kelly’s increasingly inflammatory commentary since launching her independent media career. “She doesn’t have any close friends. She’s secluded herself to live in Connecticut, and doesn’t get out into the world. It’s very isolating and she doesn’t have someone pulling her in to check her,” Dean said.
Kelly has not publicly responded to Dean’s criticism or the broader backlash over her Applegate remarks. However, her former Fox News colleague Eric Bolling came to her defense on X, writing: “Janice, I worked with both of you at Fox. I saw firsthand how Megyn backed you and helped elevate your career. Watching you publicly trash her and now slap ‘#meangirl’ on it is f–king disgraceful… You should be ashamed of this.”
Dean dismissed Bolling’s intervention with a pointed reference to his 2017 departure from Fox News following an investigation into alleged inappropriate text messages to colleagues, which he denied. “Why was he fired from Fox?” she asked rhetorically. “I’ve heard stories about this guy for many years. Bolling being the guy to come to her rescue is not the superhero you want,” she said.
Despite her strong words, Dean indicated she wants to elevate the conversation rather than descend into personal combat. “I don’t want to go down the road she’s gone down. I don’t want to fight in the gutter, but I do want to raise awareness,” she said, noting she will comment further when her health allows.
The rift between Dean and Kelly marks a dramatic turn for two women who were once close friends during their overlapping tenures at Fox News. Dean joined the network in 2004 and became known as “Janice Dean the Weather Queen,” while Kelly arrived in 2004 and rose to prime-time anchor before leaving for NBC in 2017. Their professional paths diverged when Kelly’s NBC morning show failed and she eventually launched “The Megyn Kelly Show” on SiriusXM in 2020, while Dean remained at Fox until 2021 and has since focused on MS advocacy and authoring children’s books about weather.
Dean said she will share additional thoughts on the controversy when she has recovered sufficiently from her recent health setbacks.