Page Six Says Swisher's CNN Exit Hides a Love Rivalry

Page Six reports Kara Swisher's rush to leave CNN is tangled with her ex Nellie Bowles' marriage to Bari Weiss, a claim Swisher flatly rejects.

Page Six reports that chatter around the Paramount Skydance–CNN deal says Kara Swisher's hurry to quit the network may be about more than politics. The outlet's sources claim her ex-girlfriend Nellie Bowles — now married to Bari Weiss, whom David Ellison installed at CBS News and is rumored to be eyeing for editorial control of CNN — is the real reason Swisher wants out before Weiss arrives. One source told Page Six flatly, "Kara's just jealous," and the tabloid suggests Swisher is still stung by losing Bowles to Weiss. Page Six even joked that Swisher's agent should spring her before December, or the CNN holiday party could be quite awkward.

Swisher did not let the story go unanswered. After Page Six emailed her for comment, she posted the email on Threads and fired back: "As exciting as girl on girl action is for you to gin up, I have been saying for a long time now that I would depart CNN if the deal goes through, due to my lack of confidence in the owners as decent media stewards & not whatever minion they decide to install… Please try to keep up as hard as that is for you." The Daily Mail reports she also accused "pro-power media water carriers" of trying to make a "lesbian cat fight happen," and notes her contract runs through December 31.

What makes the Page Six theory surprisingly plausible to followers is the tangled web of relationships and power it touches. According to Page Six, Bowles co-founded The Free Press with Weiss in 2021 after working on Swisher's "Recode" podcast and dating her for several years. The Daily Mail adds that Ellison paid $150 million for The Free Press, made Weiss CBS News chief, and that the Paramount–Warner Bros. deal cleared a legal hurdle Monday when state attorneys general reached a settlement with concessions protecting CNN's editorial independence. Whether Swisher's exit is principle or personal remains a matter of dueling narratives between the outlets and Swisher herself.

The stakes go far beyond one podcaster's contract. The Daily Mail reports several journalists have already left CBS under Weiss's leadership, including Anderson Cooper's exit from 60 Minutes in May, which sources attributed to discomfort with the show's direction under her. Swisher said Tuesday on "Pivot" that she asked her agent to get her out early, calling the Ellisons "terrible media owners" and saying she'd "rather work for Rupert Murdoch" — the Murdochs, as Page Six notes, own the very outlet peddling the rivalry story. With Weiss floated across CBS News and CNN, the merger is becoming a defining test of editorial independence under new conservative-aligned ownership.