Meet former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s family: the controversial political commentator was the first American to interview Vladimir Putin – but who are his wife and children?

Mar 12 , 2024

Tucker Carlson, who hosted Tucker Carlson Tonight, made headlines for his controversial views. Photo: AP

Tucker Carlson was born into wealth: his dad was Richard Warner Carlson, US ambassador to the Seychelles during the first Bush administration, then the White House tapped him as head of the CPB

He met his then future wife Susan Andrews at school, calling her ‘the cutest 10th grader in America’ – and claims his son Buckley was at the Capitol during the 2021 riots

Tucker Carlson is no stranger to making headlines. A conservative commentator on Fox News for more than a decade, Carlson’s provocative remarks on immigrants, vaccines, national identity and Black civil rights often earned him the ire of many. But his show still remained one of the most watched on cable news.

Tucker Carlson left Fox News after a lawsuit. Photo: TNS

In April last year, Carlson left the network after being named in a massive US$1.6 billion lawsuit by voting equipment company Dominion Voting Systems. Then, in February, he became the first American to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) speaks during an interview with US television host Tucker Carlson in Moscow. Photo: Reuters

The controversial interview pushed Carlson back into the spotlight, highlighting that political commentators don’t need the backing of a major networks to have a big audience.

But while Carlson has remained a prominent political influencer, he has managed to keep his private life out of the spotlight. So where does he come from and who does he have supporting him at home? Meet the Carlson family you never knew about.

Tucker Carlson was born into wealth

Tucker Carlson’s father Richard was a journalist before turning to politics. Photo: Wiki Commons

According to Business Insider, Tucker’s father, Richard Warner Carlson, began his career in journalism before entering politics. Richard was the US ambassador to the Seychelles during the first Bush administration and the White House later asked him to join the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as head of the organisation.

Per the Columbia Journalism Review, Tucker’s mother, Lisa McNear, left the family home to live a “bohemian” lifestyle. His parents split when he was six and after his mother left, she never saw her two children again.

In an interview with the New Yorker, Tucker, 54, called it a “bizarre situation”, but one that he never spoke about. His father remarried Patricia Swanson, heiress to the Swanson frozen dinner empire, leading to a life of luxury for Tucker and his brother, Buckley.