Ex-Fox News Anchor Gretchen Carlson Files Sexual Harassment Suit Against Roger Ailes

Eleven-year Fox News anchor and Miss America 1989 Gretchen Carlson is suing Roger Ailes, the co-founder and CEO of the top-ranked news network, for sexual harassment.

Carlson, whose employment ended June 23, at the culmination of her contract, says her termination followed years of verbal harassment and claims of a hostile work environment. The lawsuit, filed this morning in the Superior court of New Jersey in Bergen County, claims Ailes described Carlson as a "man hater" and saw everything as if it "only rains on women."

The suit goes on to claim that Ailes "injected sexual and/or sexist comments and innuendo into their conversations" including:

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  Ogling Carlson in his office and asking her to turn around so he could view her posterior


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  Commenting repeatedly on Carlson's legs


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  Lamenting that marriage was "boring," "hard" and "not much fun"


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  Embarrassing Carlson by stating to others in her presence that he had "slept" with three former Miss Americas but not with her

Things came to a head in September, Carlson claims, when she asked for a meeting with Ailes. At that meeting, she said he told her, "I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago."

TVNewser has a copy of the complaint.

Carlson joined Fox News in 2005 and was the co-anchor of the network's top-rated Fox & Friends for more than seven years before being replaced by Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Since 2013, Carlson has been the anchor of a one-hour afternoon show on Fox News.

In a 2012 interview on The View, Carlson said her nickname around the newsroom was "BA," short for Bad Ass, "but in a good way," she added.

Carlson, who is married to sports agent Casey Close, is seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages,and damages for mental anguish.