Megyn Kelly on Roger Ailes: ‘He Tried to Kiss Me’

Megyn Kelly details allegations that she was sexually harassed by her former boss, Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes, for the first time in her new book, Settle for More, Radar Online reports.

After former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson sued Ailes for sexual harassment in July, the cable news network’s parent company 21st Century Fox opened up an investigation into Ailes. More women came forward publicly to accuse Ailes of sexual harassment. Kelly, considered one of the network’s most valuable anchors, didn’t speak publicly on the investigation, but New York Magazine reported that she had told investigators that she had been harassed by Ailes. Ailes has denied all allegations of sexual harassment. Following the investigation, Fox News announced in July that Ailes would resign from the network.

Kelly has remained mum on the investigation — until now. Vanity Fair reported last month that Kelly added a new chapter in her book to discuss Ailes’ alleged harassment. On Wednesday, Radar Online published passages that it claims are excerpts from the book. Here, Kelly details that she began having meetings with Ailes shortly after she was hired as a legal correspondent for the network in 2005.

Read more: Gretchen Carlson’s Next Fight

“Roger began pushing the limits,” she alleges, according to Radar Online. “There was a pattern to his behavior. I would be called into Roger’s office, he would shut the door, and over the next hour or two, he would engage in a kind of cat-and-mouse game with me — veering between obviously inappropriate sexually charged comments (e.g. about the ‘very sexy bras’ I must have and how he’d like to see me in them) and legitimate professional advice.”

Kelly reportedly writes that Ailes offered to advance her career in exchange for “sexual favors” — similar to allegations made by Carlson in her lawsuit, which she settled with the network — even though her claims were against Ailes — for $20 million in September. Kelly reportedly alleged that Ailes’ passes turned physical in January 2006 when he grabbed her and attempted to kiss her. When she refused, “he asked me an ominous question: ‘When is your contract up?’ And then, for the third time, he tried to kiss me,” according to Radar Online.

But Kelly said that after she reported Ailes to a supervisor, the harassment stopped. Still, the anchor wrote that she felt obligated to come forward with her experience after Carlson and other women began speaking up against Ailes. “Crossing him was a major risk,” she writes, according to Radar Online, “but what if — God forbid — he was still doing it to someone?”

Susan Estrich, Ailes’ lawyer, denied the allegations in the book in a statement, according to the Washington Post. “This is what Ms. Kelly had to say about Roger Ailes only one year ago on the Charlie Rose program, ‘I really care about Roger. And he has been nothing but good to me. And he’s been very loyal. And he’s had my back. And he’s looked out for me.’ Mr. Ailes denies her allegations of sexual harassment or misconduct of any kind.”

Kelly’s book will be released Nov. 15. Fox News and Harper Collins, Kelly’s publisher, did not respond to Motto’s request for comment by deadline.

UPDATE: Kelly declined to comment to Motto on the report.