As a single mother of three with a primetime slot on Fox News, Laura Ingraham is asked the same question over and over again: How do you manage to balance it all?
The 61-year-old’s answer is refreshingly honest: “I don’t do that.”
While viewers of her 7 p.m. show, The Ingraham Angle, might see her — complete with perfectly coiffed hair, a fresh face and elegant outfits — and assume there’s a secret recipe to her success, Ingraham insists there isn’t is.
As she tells the Daily Mail in an exclusive interview, some days she feels like she is barely making ends meet.
‘I don’t think I’m any different to any other mother who has a job that is quite demanding, and at the same time I have the added excitement of being a single parent. At any given time of the day, we feel like we’re not doing enough,” she says.
But over the years, the glamorous cable news host has developed a routine that helps her manage stress and keep her hectic workload in check, all while looking flawless.
On a typical day, Ingraham wakes up at 6 a.m., makes her boys, Nikolai, 14, and Dmitri, 16, breakfast (usually bacon and eggs, sometimes blueberry pancakes) and takes them to school. Her 19-year-old daughter, Maria, is studying.
Ingraham then transitions to a daily exercise routine, usually a circuit workout at Orangetheory — a boutique fitness chain where memberships start at $129 per month.
As a single mother of three with a primetime slot on Fox News, Laura Ingraham is asked the same question over and over again: How do you manage to balance it all? The 61-year-old’s answer is refreshingly honest: “I don’t do that.”
While viewers of her 7 p.m. show, The Ingraham Angle, might see her — complete with perfectly coiffed hair, a fresh face and elegant outfits — and assume there’s a secret recipe to her success, Ingraham insists there isn’t is.
On a typical day, Ingraham wakes up at 6 a.m., makes her boys, Nikolai, 14 (left) and Dmitri, 16 (right), breakfast, usually bacon and eggs, sometimes blueberry pancakes, and takes them to school.
Laura’s 19-year-old daughter, Maria (pictured right), is studying.
“I’m not a great sleeper,” Ingraham admits, “but for me, exercise is absolutely key. I’ve always been athletic. In high school I was voted class athlete by the entire class.’
When she’s not working out, Ingraham still stays active, whether it’s throwing around a soccer ball with her boys or sprinting with them in the yard of their Northern Virginia home.
“I could beat them for a long time,” she jokes, “but growing older means learning how to give things up gracefully.”
Not that you could tell she’s aging: Ingraham — who joined Fox News as a contributor in 2007 and began hosting her own nightly hour in 2017 — still maintains a schedule that many 20-somethings would struggle to keep up with.
After her workouts, she has an 11 a.m. phone call with her Fox production staff to brainstorm ideas ahead of her evening show. Despite a reported salary of more than $10 million a year, Ingraham still makes her own lunch.
Then it’s time to start writing for the show. Staff members say she prides herself on writing the focus of her opening monologue and most of the show herself, while an editorial team helps with edits.
At 6 p.m. she is in the studio for hair and makeup. “For me, less is more, but on TV you have to wear makeup or you look bad,” she says. And she will be live on the air at 7 p.m. sharp.
Of course, Ingraham is the first to point out that her life is made easier by the fully staffed Fox styling team, who diligently plan out wardrobe options and help groom her to perfection.
‘I have someone to help [my outfits]she lays down a lot of them… I like a lot of blues. I like turquoise very much. I like colour. I also love pastels, but blues and certain jewel tones especially make me feel good,” Ingraham explains.
But it is not always a complete picture.
Ingraham tells us a TV secret and says she sometimes keeps her jeans on under her TV desk, out of view of the cameras.
A brand favorite: Mother Denim from Los Angeles. “I could wear them all day,” she says.
Off air, Ingraham ditches the heavy TV makeup and maintains a simple skincare routine.
‘In normal life I wear quite minimal make-up. I think I buy most of my makeup from the pharmacy,” she says. “I have some nice foundations and things like that, but I tend to keep it very clean and polished.”
She also eats and drinks with an emphasis on maintaining her health.
“I drink water when I get the chance, and I don’t drink alcohol during the week,” she says. “I’m one of those people who likes to have a margarita every now and then, but that’s about it.”
Religion also plays a big role for Ingraham – and for her children, all of whom she adopted: the boys from Russia and Maria from Guatemala.
“Staying sharp is taking care of your body and your mind,” she says. “For me, that means making sure I go to Mass and making sure I try to put God first in what I do.”
Choosing to adopt has been a key to her happiness, according to Ingraham: “We have a very unusual family, and it’s not perfect, we have our moments, but it’s been a wonderful blessing to me.”
Despite the glamorous lifestyle that viewers may expect from the never-married host of a top cable news show, Ingraham chooses the quiet life and often goes straight home after broadcasts.
“It’s hard because I’m not really a cocktail party person anyway, but you do miss a lot, working at that time of day, and that’s also kids’ homework time,” she says.
“My day ends after our post-show production talk at 8:15 p.m. We do a quick postmortem on the show and talk about ideas for tomorrow. But I’m never far from the news.’
Certainly, Ingraham’s dedication to the job has paid off. She is now the highest-rated woman in cable news history, averaging about three million viewers per show, according to Fox data.
After her workouts, she has an 11 a.m. phone call with her Fox production staff to brainstorm ideas ahead of her evening show. (Ingraham is pictured with Fox and Friends cast members: Lawrence Jones, Steve Doocy, Carley Shimkus and Brian Kilmeade).
Certainly, Ingraham’s dedication to the job has paid off. She is now the highest-rated woman in cable news history, averaging about three million viewers per show, according to Fox data. (She is pictured here with Fox’s Jesse Watters).
Yet her high-profile personality also brings difficulties. Ingraham is known for her outspoken political opinions, which often generate her fair share of public anger.
Ingraham is a staunch supporter of gun rights and an outspoken defender of Donald Trump. In particular, he shares his belief that America’s borders must be secured.
“People have now seen what the radicalism of the left has done to our schools and to our government,” she says. “I think more Americans just want to get back to common sense.”
Most of the negative responses she has received – often in the form of trolls on social media – are responses to her opinions on these topics.
But it’s important, Ingraham says, that she draws a line between her work and her personal life.
“I literally never Googled myself, ever, not once. People never believe that. But I don’t care,” she says. “I do care what my family thinks, my close friends. But as for the anonymous critics out there, I don’t care what the press thinks. If I wanted to please the press, I would have chosen a completely different career path.”
It’s hard to argue that whoever took them didn’t bear fruit.