Former Fox host Juliet Huddy reveals how she's been left with nothing after she broke NDA to speak with 'Bombshell' makers
The makers of 'Bombshell' spoke to former Fox News anchor Juliet Huddy for the film, even though she had signed a non-disclosure agreement with the network back in 2016.
Huddy had left Fox News over sexual harassment allegations against former Fox anchor Bill O'Reilly. Her settlement is said to have been in six figures despite O'Reilly denying the claims. However, he was eventually fired in 2017 after a New York Times article exposed that he and his employers had paid off numerous sexual harassment settlements.
Huddy's non-disclosure agreement cost the former anchor a $500,000 penalty.
Huddy, who is a co-host at a radio show for WABC, told The Hollywood Reporter, "I lost my house. My television career combusted, and I couldn’t get a job for over a year. So come after me. I don’t have anything."
The Lionsgate film is directed by Jay Roach and written by Charles Randolph. The film stars Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie, and John Lithgow, and follows the story of a group of women at Fox News whose efforts led to CEO Roger Ailes' crimes being exposed.
Theron plays Megyn Kelly, Kidman plays Gretchen Carlson and Robbie plays Kayla Pospisil.
The creators spoke to about 20 people who were connected to Fox to be as close to the real story as possible and these sources also included other women who had been gagged by NDAs. The makers also obtained photos of the premises in order to recreate the physical space, especially Ailes' office, as closely as possible. They did not, however, reach out to Sean Hannity or CEO Suzanne Scott, current employees at the network, HR reported.
They also could not speak to Kelly, her lawyer Bryan Freedman has said. He said that she had "no involvement" in the movie. 'Bombshell' has some scenes inspired by Kelly's book 'Settle for More' from 2016. "Megyn has never met or spoken to Charlize, and she did not sell the rights to the book,” Freedman said. “In fact, Megyn was as surprised as anyone when the trailer dropped.”
Journalist Gretchen Carlson has also said that she couldn't be a part of the movie because of the NDA. "It’s really frustrating that because of my NDA, I can’t participate in any of these projects,” she said, highlighting her fight to ban NDAs in sexual harassment cases, "It’s why I’m working so hard on the Hill to change that."
Huddy also added that she hopes the film does their "due diligence", because by the time Randolph had contacted Huddy for a perspective, 'Bombshell' was already shot. “I thought, ‘Well, God, he’s contacted me kind of late to get my perspective,’” said Huddy. “I really do hope that they did their due diligence. I hope that they kept in mind the fact that while Gretchen and Megyn were turned into heroines, there were quite a few of us whose lives were turned upside down.”
According to Theron, who is also a producer of the film, they intend to fully protect their sources. "We have all taken an oath to protect our sources. But we tried to communicate as much as we could with everybody. Yeah, I’ll just say that.”