Courtney Friel (born April 22, 1980) is an

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ἄγ ...

and reporter on television in the U.S. She currently works for

KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is the second ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. She previously covered entertainment for

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve s ...

owned-and-operated station

KTTV KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV ou ...

in Los Angeles as well as other local stations and also the

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is own ...

. Prior to her move to Los Angeles, Friel was the entertainment reporter at Fox News Channel, contributing to a number of entertainment-related programs for the network's website, FoxNews.com. She was a frequent guest contributor on the Fox News late-night satire show ''

Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld ''Red Eye'', also known as ''Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld'' from 2007 to 2015 and ''Red Eye w/ Tom Shillue'' from 2015 to 2017, was an American late-night/early-morning satirical talk show on Fox News, which aired at 3:00 a.m. ET Tuesday throu ...

''.

Early life

Friel attended Methacton High School in Eagleville, Pennsylvania, where she regularly made the televised morning announcements and was active in the school's media production class. After submitting a short video, she was chosen to appear in

Channel One News Channel One News was an American news content provider. The daily news program was accompanied by commercial advertising for marketing in schools, with supplementary educational resources. The Peabody award-winning Channel One News program w ...

student-produced week in Los Angeles. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

from

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) sy ...

Career

Friel was a sports anchor and entertainment reporter for

GoTV GOtv Africa is a pay television terrestrial service in sub-Saharan Africa owned by broadcaster MultiChoice. It mainly consists of African and international programming. History The terrestrial TV service was founded in October 2011 by MultiCho ...

Mobile Television, as well as the hostess for the

World Poker Tour The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the f ...

on the

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United St ...

. She hosted GameStop/EBGames "EB TV" which boasted of recently released and upcoming video games. Before that, she co-anchored

Court TV Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former cable television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cove ...

's ''The Saturday Night Solution''. She also worked as a field reporter for various networks including E!, Oxygen Channel and

Comcast Cable Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, doing business as Xfinity, is an American telecommunications company and division of Comcast Corporation used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the com ...

, the

, as well as the syndicated program ''

Extra Extra or Xtra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * ''Extra'' (newspaper), a Brazilian newspaper * '' Extra!'', an American m ...

''. She worked as an anchor at ABC affiliate

WBBJ-TV WBBJ-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Jackson, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with ABC and CBS. Owned by Bahakel Communications, the station maintains studios on Muse Street in Jackson, and its transmitter is located on Potts Chap ...

Jackson, Tennessee Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States census. Jackson i ...

in 2003. Friel arrived at WBBJ during the May 2003 tornado outbreak sequence, and covered the devastation in Jackson. She joined Fox News Channel in February 2007. She has appeared in ''

Maxim Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment * ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition * Maxim Radio, ''Maxim'' magazine's radio channel on Si ...

'' and '' FHM''. She stated on the November 22, 2011 ''

'' show that she would be moving to Fox News' Los Angeles bureau. She has appeared on TV shows and movies such as ''

Veep ''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci as an adaptation of his sitcom ''The Thick of It''. The protagonist of ''Veep'' ...

'', ''

Goliath Goliath ( ) ''Goləyāṯ''; ar, جُليات ''Ǧulyāt'' (Christian term) or (Quranic term). is a character in the Book of Samuel, described as a Philistine giant defeated by the young David in single combat. The story signified King Saul's ...

'', and '' XXX: Return of Xander Cage''.

Personal life

Friel was previously married to Carter Evans, a correspondent for

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', '' CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 ...

, with whom she has two children. The couple divorced in 2016. She remarried in October 2020 to Jim Hecht. Courtney released an autobiography entitled ''Tonight at 10: Kicking Booze and Breaking News'' that details her past drug and alcohol addictions. It was announced in August 2020 that Zero Gravity had optioned the film rights to turn the memoir into a biopic.

Bibliography

* ''Tonight At 10: Kicking Booze and Breaking News'' (Launch Pad Publishing, 2020)

References

External links

*
Biography
at KTLA.com
Profile
at WorldPokerTour.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Friel, Courtney 1980 births American women journalists Fox News people Journalists from Pennsylvania Living people Television anchors from Philadelphia Poker commentators San Diego State University alumni 21st-century American women