A former Fox News Channel booker who worked closely with the network's ex-CEO Roger Ailes claims he sexually harassed her for 20 years, which has left her with a mental illness.
Laurie Luhn spoke with Gabriel Sherman of New York Magazine about her ordeal, which she said was "psychological torture."
During the 11-hour interview, Luhn described first meeting Ailes in 1988, followed two years later by an interview and a dinner date. She took Ailes to the airport after the dinner and said he kissed her and gave her money before he got out of car.
From that point, Luhn said Ailes slowly reeled her in and controlled her. He hired her at Fox News as a researcher. She worked her way up — with his help, she told New York Magazine — and eventually made $250,000 a year as an event planner.
Luhn described several meetings between the pair in hotel rooms over the years that included sexual encounters. Ailes, she said, would always leave money for her afterward.
She said she was also asked to send young female employees into one-on-one meetings with Ailes, which she knew could end in some form of harassment.
After Luhn suffered an emotional breakdown in the winter of 2007 en route to Mexico for a vacation, she told NY Magazine she contacted Ailes for help. He eventually got her back to New York City and put her up in a hotel for six weeks, demanding that he review all of her outgoing emails before she sent them.
"You don't have friends," she said Ailes told her at the time. "I'm your friend. I'll protect you."
Luhn told the magazine her mental illness got worse over the years and she was taking medication for it. Ailes once saw the pills in her purse and chided her for it.
Eventually Luhn accused Ailes of sexual harassment at either the end of 2010 or the start of 2011 via a letter to a Fox News lawyer. Ailes denied he had done anything but instructed the lawyer to put together a settlement package.
In 2011, Luhn left Fox News with a $3.15 million settlement that contained strict nondisclosure terms, including one that forbade her from talking to the press.
Asked why she was breaking the agreement to speak with New York Magazine, she said, "The truth shall set you free. Nothing else matters."
Ailes resigned from Fox News earlier this month after former anchor Gretchen Carlson accused him of sexual harassment. Other women followed, including current anchor Megyn Kelly — who said Ailes made advances toward her when she started at the network.
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