Jennifer Eckhart Dead at 36: The Ex-Fox Producer Who Sued Ed Henry

• Jennifer Eckhart, the former Fox Business associate producer who accused ex-Fox News anchor Ed Henry of rape in a 2020 lawsuit, has died. She was 36.
• The Martin County Sheriff’s Office in Florida said she died by suicide. She was found at her home in Hobe Sound on Saturday, Sept. 19.
• Her case against Henry ended in a sealed settlement in June 2025, a day before trial. A judge had already dismissed Fox from the suit.

Jennifer Eckhart, whose lawsuit against former Fox News anchor Ed Henry became one of the network’s most closely watched harassment cases, has died. She was 36.

The Martin County Sheriff’s Office said she died by suicide. According to the sheriff’s report, a family member found her at her home in Hobe Sound, on Florida’s Treasure Coast, on Saturday, Sept. 19. No other circumstances were released.

What happened in Jennifer Eckhart’s Fox News lawsuit?

Eckhart sued in federal court in Manhattan in June 2020, about two weeks after Fox Business fired her. She accused Henry, then a Fox News anchor, of rape and of years of sexual abuse between 2014 and 2017.

The suit also named Fox, alleging the network retaliated against her. Part of it was brought under the federal sex trafficking statute, which covers sex obtained through force, fraud or coercion.

Henry denied the allegations. Through his attorney, he said the relationship was consensual.

Fox fired Henry on July 1, 2020, after an outside investigation into what the network called “willful sexual misconduct in the workplace years ago.” He has since joined Newsmax as chief anchor.

Why was Fox dismissed from the case?

U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams ruled that the network could not be held liable because it “did not have actual notice” of Henry’s alleged conduct toward Eckhart until her lawyers reported it on June 25, 2020, three years after their last encounter.

That is the core of employer liability in these cases: a company answers for harassment it knew or should have known about. The dismissal was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in April 2026.

The claims against Henry himself went on. He and Eckhart settled on June 15, 2025, a Sunday, the day before the trial was set to begin. The terms were sealed.

Who was Jennifer Eckhart?

Eckhart grew up in Miami and studied telecommunications news at the University of Florida, where she anchored entertainment segments for the campus PBS station, WUFT. She worked as an ESPN Radio correspondent before joining Fox Business, where she produced segments and interviews.

After the lawsuit, she rebuilt her career around it. She started a podcast, Reinvented With Jen Eckhart, gave talks as a motivational speaker and worked with nonprofits that support trauma survivors.

One of her early guests was Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox anchor whose 2016 lawsuit led to Roger Ailes’ resignation as Fox News chairman:

Neither Henry nor Fox has commented publicly on her death.

If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24 hours a day.

Also today: Presley Gerber, Cindy Crawford’s son, died at 27, Carrot Top is awake and recovering, and Kate Beckinsale opened up about wanting to give up. More from Celebrities.

— Bruno Monteiro

Sources: Martin County Sheriff’s Office report; Eckhart v. Fox News Network and Henry, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (Judge Ronnie Abrams); U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; Fox News statement, July 1, 2020. Courthouse News Service (Erik Uebelacker); Newsweek (Amanda Castro); TMZ; Deadline; WPBF. Photos and video: Reinvented With Jen Eckhart (Jennifer Eckhart, YouTube).