Jennifer Eckhart, Who Sued Fox and Ed Henry, Dies at 36

Jennifer Eckhart, the former Fox Business producer whose rape lawsuit led to Ed Henry's firing, died by suicide at 36 in Florida on September 19.

Jennifer Eckhart, a former Fox Business associate producer who sued the network and ex-anchor Ed Henry for sexual assault and retaliation, was found dead at her home in Hobe Sound, Florida, on Saturday, September 19. Deadline reports her body was discovered by her mother, with a sheriff's officer describing a laceration to her throat and a pocketknife nearby; she was pronounced dead at 11:57 a.m. ET. A Martin County Sheriff's Office spokesperson confirmed to People, as cited by E! News, that the death has been ruled a suicide. An official cause of death had not been announced as of the earliest reports.

Eckhart joined Fox Business Network in 2013 and in June 2020 filed a complaint alleging "willful sexual misconduct in the workplace years ago" by Ed Henry, the married co-anchor of America's Newsroom. Her lawsuit claimed Henry raped her, photographed her for blackmail, and threatened retaliation if she refused his demands, and that Fox News knew he was harassing other women. Fox fired Henry on July 1, 2020 after a law firm investigation, while the network said Eckhart's own firing that June was for tardiness, disclosure of a proprietary graphics package, and misappropriation of company resources.

The litigation stretched across five punishing years. According to E! Yahoo, carrying Daily Beast reporting, says the case settled without going to trial. At the time, Eckhart told People the settlement lifted "a weight" from her shoulders and renewed her passion for supporting fellow trauma survivors. Henry's attorney said the matter was resolved to the mutual satisfaction of both parties.

After leaving Fox, Eckhart tried to turn what she described as being "paralyzed by fear" into purpose. In August 2021 she launched the weekly podcast Reinvented with Jen Eckhart, interviewing public figures, CEOs, athletes and business leaders — early guests included Gretchen Carlson, who herself sued Fox News chairman Roger Ailes for sexual harassment. Her death just months later has underscored how long trauma and litigation can shadow survivors after headlines fade.

E! News reports that Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said Eckhart had been detained six times in the previous 18 months under Florida's Baker Act, which allows brief holds during severe mental health crises, and had spent a seven-week period in a mental health facility for suicidal ideation. The sheriff said she had been out of that facility for one week, had stopped taking her medication, and had written in a personal ledger, "I need to kill myself. It's the last thing to do." Yahoo also reports she was arrested last year on suspicion of battery in Palm Beach County.

The death of a whistleblower whose complaint reshaped a network — Henry was fired days after her complaint, and Eckhart's case became one of the defining Fox News misconduct litigations of the decade — has renewed scrutiny of how media companies handle harassment claims and how survivors fare long after settlements are sealed. Investigators have ruled the death a suicide, and coverage from Deadline, E! News and others continues to develop.