Abby Huntsman: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Abby Huntsman is the daughter of former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr., who is expected to be named the next Ambassador to Russia. The 30-year-old is also the co-host of the weekend edition of President Donald Trump‘s favorite show, Fox & Friends. During the week, she co-hosts the early morning Fox & Friends First.

In 2010, Huntsman married her college sweetheart, 30-year-old Jeffrey Livingston. The couple do not have any children, so she considers herself a mom to her dog George. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

Here’s a look at Huntsman’s life and career.

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1. She’s Married to Jeff Livingston, Who Works in Finance

In August 2010, the New York Times published the couple’s wedding announcement. They tied the knot at the Washington National Cathedral. They are both graduates of the University of Pennsylvania, where they met. They were both 24 at the time of the wedding.

According to his LinkedIn page, Livingston currently works at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, a private equity firm. He joined in 2012 and was promoted to principal in 2014.

Before that, he worked at McKinsey & Company. Livingston also worked on his father-in-law’s ill-fated 2012 presidential campaign, handling finances. He has a B.S. in Fiance and Management.

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2. She Almost Gave Up TV For Good After Working at ‘Good Morning America’

Huntsman got her start on television very early. At age 16, she got a behind-the-scenes internship at ABC News’ Good Morning America. However, she hated it so much that she almost gave up on a future in television, reports Elle.

Before that, she was an intern at CBS News, just after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. She told Elle Magazine that a producer asked her to interview the first people who went on the first tours of the Capitol after the attacks. Filming that segment made her realize that TV was for her.

“On camera, it was just my hand and the microphone. But I watched [the segment] with my parents, and we were just so excited,” she said. “I remember it was so cool to be where the action was and to be able to talk to people and to bring that into other people’s homes. I was like, ‘Yes. This is it.'”

Her experience at GMA did give her a chance to work with her idol, Diane Sawyer, but it was a really difficult time. “I remember, many times, walking to the bathroom and just crying. As an intern, I was just like, ‘I don’t know if I can do this. This is tough,'” she told Elle. “But then you get up the next day, and you do it again.”

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3. She Landed on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 List in 2013

In 2013, Forbes Magazine listed her at No. 26 on its list of 30 Under 30 up-and-coming faces in media.

At the time, she was at MSNBC as the host of The Cycle. She also was a host on The Huffington Post’s HuffPost Life. After The Cycle was cancelled in July 2015, she also appeared on CNN. in October 2015, she was hired by Fox News.

When Huntmsan joined The Cycle, she told critics that she did not get the job just because of her father. “I went through the same audition process as everybody else,” she told the New York Daily News in 2013. She said there were “hundreds” of other candidates she beat out.

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4. She Joined Meghan McCain & Margaret Hoover to Support Gay Marriage

In 2013, Huntsman joined Meghan McCain, the daughter of Republican Senator John McCain, and Margaret Hoover, the great-granddaughter of Republican President Herbert Hoover, to voice her support for gay marriage.

“I’ve been a lifelong Republican because I believe the Republican Party has always stood for equal rights for all Americans,” Huntsman said in a statement at the time. “I think that it’s a generational issue. And I think that over time you’re going to see more and more Republicans support the freedom to marry. And I’m happy and I’m proud to be part of that movement.”

Her decision to come out in support of gay marriage came after she spent time on the campaign trail in 2011 and 2012 with her father. She also went against her father’s wishes when it came to Twitter during the campaign.

“The true weapon of mass destruction I’ve discovered is Twitter in the hands of my daughters,” Jon Huntsman told Fox 13 in 2013. “You don’t know how it’s going to play out, where it`s going to land, who it’s going to impact and I keep my fingers crossed every day.”

But Huntsman and her sisters Mary Anne and Liddy created @Jon2012Girls, which went viral during the 2012 campaign. They reached over 19,000 followers.

Huntsman’s other siblings are Jon III and William. Her parents also adopted Gracie Mei from China and Asha Bharati from India.

Hunstman created an Instagram page just for her adorable dog, George Livingston. He has over 1,200 followers who get to see him in action.

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5. She Had to Apologize On Air for an Incorrect Food-Stamp Fraud Report

In December 2016, Huntsman was criticized by the Agriculture Department for a report on food stamp fraud that turned out to be incorrect. As The Washington Post reported, Huntsman reported that $70 million was wasted on food-stamp fraud. She cited the USDA.

However, the USDA told the Post that this was incorrect. “We saw that there was as story on Breitbart. We have not issued a report on this recently. There is no new rate that we’ve published. So we’re not quite sure why they’re so interested in stirring this up,” the agency told the Post. The Post also calculated that food-stamp fraud should actually be much higher than that, at $910 million, based on the fraud rates between 2009 and 2011.

Huntsman later issued an on-air retraction, reports Mediate.

“We reported that back in 2016, $70 million were wasted on food stamp fraud. That was actually incorrect,” Hunstman explained to her audience. “The latest information from 2009 to 2011 shows the fraud at 1.3%, which is approximately $853 million for each of those three years, and nationally food-stamp trafficking is on the decline. So sorry about that mistake.”