FOX News host Dana Perino has bonded with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt while speaking frankly about age-gap marriages and work.
Perino said it was “love at first sight” when she met her future husband on a flight.
Perino – who was President George W. Bush’s spokeswoman at the end of his presidency – welcomed the White House star to a special Fox Nation live event.
She introduced no-nonsense Leavitt by saying, “She has taken the country by storm. As my mom said, she’s a real pistol.
“I wanted to do this tonight because I was the first Republican woman to be press secretary.
“She is the youngest. And we have a connection. And, like, we have become good friends.”
Perino, 52, recalled the difficulty she had finding her ideal partner.
She said, “When I first moved here, I was single, and I realized after like a couple of years I hadn’t been on a date. I mean, people might go hang out at Tortilla Coast.”
A sympathetic Leavitt, 27, responded, “Who has time for that?”
Perino described suffering a “quarter-life crisis” at the age of 25, as, “nothing in my life was turning out the way I thought it was going to.”
She added that she had “given up” her dream of working for a TV show.
A fellow churchgoer told her to “let the fear go for things to fall into place.”
Fortunately later that same year – 1997 – she met her husband-to-be, English-born Peter McMahon.
“I ended up on a plane sitting next to a guy who was British, 18 years older than me, just divorced, had only recently taken his wedding ring off.
“And we ended up talking the entire time. We call it love at first flight,” said Perino.
She added, “And I knew I wanted to be with him, but I did have a lot of that worry about: one, what would it do to my career if I decided to leave and move to England, of all places?
“And, two, what would people think about me? He was 18 years older than me. Was that going to be something that people thought was a bad decision?”
Get to know Karoline Leavitt
Donald Trump’s press secretary is the youngest White House press secretary ever at 27.
Here are some fast facts about Karoline Leavitt:
She was raised Catholic in Atkinson, New Hampshire She attended Saint Anselm College She started her college’s first broadcasting club She interned at Fox News during college She worked as the assistant press secretary under Kayleigh McEnany She won the Republican primary for the US House of Representatives in New Hampshire in 2022 She’s married to 59-year-old entrepreneur Nicholas Riccio She gave birth to her first son, Niko, in July 2024 She went back to work for Trump days after giving birth She had her mic cut off in a CNN interview in June 2024 after criticizing presidential debate moderators Dana Bash and Jake TapperLeavitt described her husband, Nicholas Riccio, as a “rock. My husband is actually here with us tonight in the audience. He is a quiet supporter.
“He’s probably so embarrassed I just called him out. But he’s amazing. He’s my rock, just like Peter.”
The women also talked about work pressures, and the struggle to achieve a a work-life balance.
Perino explained that she initially took on too much work, “One of the things that happens when you leave a job, especially a press secretary job, is that you think that the last call you get is going to be the last call you will ever get.
“So in that first year, I said yes to everything. I said yes to every charity event, every opportunity to be on a charity board…”
But when she changed jobs and joined the broadcaster, Leslie Marshall, who was a Fox News contributor, gave her some great advice.
“I just felt so overwhelmed.
“And she said, ‘here’s the rule of three: you have to ask yourself with any opportunity, ‘am I going to get paid? Does it help a cause that I care about, and do I want to do it?’
“So those three things – asking myself those three questions has really helped me.
“I’ve held on to that for 15 years, ever since she told me.”
Perino has referred to her strong marriage and impressive career in her new book, “I Wish Someone Had Told Me: The Best Advice For Building A Great Career And A Meaningful Life,” which is out now.
Her book’s aim is to share valuable wisdom from her friends and mentors.
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