Melissa Francis Biography, Mother, Husband, Father, Fox News Career, Net Worth

May 2024 · 5 minute read

Melissa Francis was born to be in front of the cameras. Before she could even say her own name, she had started appearing in television commercials. Melissa then became an actress and then a television journalist.

The highlight of his acting days included the role of Cassandra Cooper Ingalls on the 1980s television show Little House on the Prairie. In recent years, she can be seen hosting and anchoring on the Fox News Channel as well as Fox Business News.

Melissa Francis Bio

Melissa was born Melissa Ann Francis on December 12, 1972, in Los Angeles, California. Her mom started pushing her into the entertainment world even before her first birthday. Alongside her now late sister Tiffany, Melissa began appearing in TV commercials. Her first commercial job was for a Johnson & Johnson shampoo when she was just 6 months old. Melissa would go on to appear in over 100 advertisements.

From commercials, she started landing small parts in TV shows and movies. Some of his early ones included; Scavenger Hunt, Man, Woman, and Child, and Bad Dreams. Melissa was more active on the small screen. She played the lead role in Joe’s World and her most successful TV gig came on the hit TV series Little House on the Prairie. Melissa played her role for a year from 1981 to 1982.

About a decade later, Melissa quit acting and moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts to attend Harvard. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. While at Harvard, Melissa served as editor of The Harvard College Economist magazine. She played polo as an extracurricular activity and even became captain of the Harvard Polo team.

Melissa interned at NBC twice before her college graduation. After graduating, she became a reporter for New Jersey’s News 12. She then anchored and reported for several New England television stations in Manchester, Hartford and Providence. She has notably produced for WCSH-TV (NBC) in Portland and researched for MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.

She would later become a CNET correspondent. Here, she focused on covering financial, technology and consumer products issues. During this time, she also served CNBC, providing reporting for the outlet.

It was in 2003 that Melissa joined CNBC as an energy reporter covering energy-related issues and the activities of the giant corporations behind those issues. In addition to this, she anchored two news programs; The Call and Power Luncheon. She is said to have been the first reporter to broadcast live from the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Fox News Career

In January 2012, Melissa Francis joined FOX Business Network as an anchor and financial news reporter. Along with David Asman, she is the co-host of After the Bell which airs weekdays at 4-5pm/ET. Two years later, in 2014, she became co-host of the Fox News Channel Outnumbered which airs weekdays at noon-PM ET. Melissa is also the anchor of the current affairs program, It Happens Now

His father and his mother

Melissa has released a revealing memoir titled Diary of a Stage Mother’s Daughter. It was about his childhood and being raised by a very toxic and controlling mother. She detailed all the horrible things she went through brought up by her mother, including one time her mother threw her out of the car and asked her to find a way home. She was only 8 years old.

Melissa’s mother even stole the money she earned from commercials and movies. Her domineering attitude led her older sister Tiffany into bad relationships that encouraged her to use drugs and alcohol. Tiffany would later die of addiction.

At the age of 15, Melissa became emancipated from her mother. She revealed little about her father, including that he owned a small business and worked very hard at it. Melissa also mentioned that her father was a source of strength, motivating her that she could be anything she wanted if only she put her mind to it. However, for the most part, her father reacted to her mother’s toxicity in a rather passive-aggressive way, which unfortunately wasn’t enough.

Luckily for Melissa she stayed strong and got the most out of her life, sadly the same cannot be said for her late sister who more often than not got into fights with their mum.

Net Worth – How Rich Is She?

Melissa may have lost a huge chunk of the money she made in acting, but luckily she was able to recover with a successful journalism career. She earns an estimated salary of $100,000 from FOX. His net worth has been estimated at around $5 million.

husband of melissa francis

Melissa is married to Wray Thorn. She met him in Boston during his college years. Thorn proposed to her on top of the Empire State Building and they were married in 1997. Thorn is the managing director of Two Sigma Ventures. According to his LinkedIn profile, he started his career at Chemical Bank in the acquisition finance group.

At Two Sigma, Thorn drives private investment and undertakes ventures. The couple share three children, including two sons and a daughter. Their youngest daughter was born via surrogacy after their doctor revealed a third pregnancy would be too risky for Melissa who had been diagnosed with an inherited condition called Factor V Leiden. Due to the disease, Melissa’s first two pregnancies were high risk.

The family lives in a 3,100 square foot loft in Carnegie Hill that they bought in 2010 for over $4 million.

You may also like

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r63Io5innaeoe6S7zGiZrrKqZL2mu8%2BlnGillaG2tL%2FAZp2rmZ6YtrR5waKmZqWfqbWmvoyhrKyakaOxbrLArZ%2Beql2bvLl5zZ6urGWTlr%2BmsdFmpZ6sXay8s8DHaA%3D%3D