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The Untold Truth Of Eric Bolling
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00:00Newsmax host, pal to former President Donald Trump, and lunchtime lifesaver? Watch here
00:06to find out everything there is to know about TV personality Eric Bolling.
00:11Certain professional athletes find a calling beyond the field with a career in broadcasting.
00:16You may not realize it, but Eric Bolling is technically among this group.
00:20After a successful baseball career at Rollins College, Bolling was drafted by the Pittsburgh
00:26Pirates, just as he began a fellowship at Duke University's School of Public Policy,
00:31according to his alma mater's magazine. Obviously, the path towards punditry was
00:35already in motion, but that didn't stop Bolling from pursuing the big leagues first.
00:40Detailing his trajectory to the pros, which sadly ended at age 22,
00:44Bolling told Chicago Magazine in 2016,
00:47I got a scholarship to Rollins College in Florida, and in senior year,
00:51the Pittsburgh Pirates came to dedicate our new stadium.
00:54They drafted me that year. I was only there for a portion of the first year
00:58because I ended up blowing my rotator cuff out."
01:00Bolling went on to detail how his shoulder injury was too severe to fix,
01:04thus ending his MLB dreams. Dejected, Bolling returned to his native Chicago and began a long
01:11and confusing job hunt. Eventually, he landed a job in marketing with Mobile Oil, which sparked his
01:17interest in commodities trading. A chance encounter with a CNBC reporter led to his initial TV appearance,
01:23which then led to a regular gig on Fast Money where he commentated on financial news.
01:29Eric Bolling eventually left his first TV home, CNBC, for Fox Business.
01:33Having spent a good deal of time making a fortune trading oil and gas futures on Wall Street,
01:38Bolling's deep interest in and understanding of the financial market positioned him perfectly
01:43for a full-time gig in the high-pressure world of Fox News' financial division.
01:48It might surprise you to learn, then, that Bolling once gave up literal millions to read to his son's
01:52preschool class. Speaking with Benzinga News in 2010, Bolling detailed how one day, while he was
01:58reading Spider and the Fly to his son's class, some investments he'd made in natural gas took a
02:03seriously bad turn. Bolling told the outlet,
02:06Still, Bolling claimed the chance to spend a little time with his son was worth the outrageous amount
02:23of money — approximately $2 million he lost that day. Bolling told Benzinga,
02:28It was a bloodbath when I got to the trading floor, an absolute bloodbath. But you know what,
02:33I will never forget the look on his face while I was reading that book.
02:37Eric Bolling's successful stint at Fox News came to a tabloid-worthy end in 2017,
02:43when HuffPost broke the story that he had allegedly sent illicit photographs to female staff members.
02:49Bolling was suspended in August 2017 when three of his female colleagues came forward with the
02:54allegations. The news continued to worsen for Bolling when a former regular on his soon-to-be
02:59canceled show, Caroline Heldman, claimed he'd harassed her on set. Bolling reportedly called
03:05her, quote, Dr. McHotty and offered to, quote, fly her out to New York for both work and, as was
03:10reported, fun. In a since-deleted Facebook post, she further detailed an unsettling incident in which
03:16Bolling had given her a tour of his office. Heldman wrote,
03:20In the brief time I was there, he let me know that his office was his favorite place to have sex.
03:25Bolling stayed mostly mum on the issue, with his attorney stating,
03:29Mr. Bolling recalls no such inappropriate communications, does not believe he sent
03:33any such communications, and will vigorously pursue his legal remedies for any false and
03:38defamatory accusations that are made. Within weeks of the allegations going public, however,
03:43Bolling exited Fox News. Although the network said in a statement that it had agreed to part ways
03:48amicably with Bolling, the New York Times pointed out that just months earlier, Bolling had renewed
03:53a long-term contract with the cable news giant. As such, the outlet also had this characterization
03:59of the former host. Eric Bolling is the latest personality forced out of Fox News in the wake of
04:04a sexual harassment scandal that has engulfed the network. Eric Bolling's life changed irrevocably
04:11in 2017, when his son Eric Chase Bolling died of an apparent overdose while away at college.
04:17Eric Chase was found unresponsive with a mix of cocaine, marijuana, opioids, and Xanax in his
04:22system, according to People. Those close to Eric Chase detailed how he'd spent the day doing various
04:28drugs before falling asleep with a female companion, with no indication that anything was wrong.
04:34Eric broke the news via Twitter, writing,
04:36"'Adrianne and I are devastated by the loss of our beloved son Eric Chase last night. Details
04:41still unclear. Thoughts, prayers appreciated.'" Eventually, Eric Chase's autopsy showed that he
04:47had accidentally overdosed from a combination of cocaine and fentanyl, according to the Denver Post.
04:53Almost immediately, the elder Bolling committed himself to fighting the growing opioid epidemic.
04:58Part of that initiative involved lobbying politicians, including then-President Donald Trump,
05:03as well as founding the Eric Chase Foundation, which is dedicated to solving the problem.
05:08Eric Bolling was in the headlines a lot in the months following his abrupt departure from Fox
05:13News. Just when it seemed like things had quieted down, Bolling found himself in the
05:17midst of yet another scandal when he publicly feuded with Bill O'Reilly. O'Reilly sparked the beef
05:23when he told The New York Times that he believed the death of Bolling's son, Eric Chase Bolling,
05:27was directly connected to the reporting on his father's sexual harassment scandal.
05:32Bolling was quick to fire back, telling Emily Steele of The New York Times,
05:36"...I believe it is beyond inappropriate for anyone to bring in the tragic death of my son,
05:41Eric Chase Bolling. My parting from Fox News was in no way connected to the tragic news of my son's
05:46passing. The coroner has in fact indicated to us that they believe it was an accident."
05:51To O'Reilly's credit, he eventually apologized to Bolling in a tweet, reading,
05:55"...apologies to Eric Bolling and prayers for him and his family. The message I tried to send
06:00was that allegations harm kids, nothing more." Bolling graciously accepted the apology.
06:06If you keep up with your Fox News hosts, then it should come as little surprise to you that
06:10Eric Bolling is thick as thieves with former President Donald Trump. Bolling was an adamant
06:15supporter of Trump's throughout his presidency, and the pair evidently grew closer in 2017
06:20following the death of Bolling's son. In a July 2020 interview with Trump, Bolling revealed that
06:25the then-president reached out to him directly several times to check on his and his wife's
06:30well-being after their son's death. Bolling declared,
06:34"...I don't think people see the heart that Donald Trump has."
06:37But Bolling had been singing Trump's praises long before that, too. Following his ouster from Fox
06:42News, Bolling put his newfound free time to use towards a good cause. Never wanting another parent
06:48to experience the loss he had, Bolling began campaigning for stricter laws surrounding
06:52prescription drug abuse. In doing so, he praised Trump's administration for being, quote,
06:57"...very strong on the enforcement side of it." However, Bolling told The Hill in 2018
07:02that he intended to advise the president that his administration also needed to treat the
07:06recovery side by putting money towards better recovery facilities and working to remove the
07:11stigma surrounding addiction. Bolling also said that he had already been working directly with
07:16Trump on this initiative, and that he would continue to do so in the coming days.
07:21After his messy exit from Fox News in 2017, Bolling took a bit of time to figure out his next
07:27move, occasionally popping up as a commentator on various networks. Things took a very sharp
07:32turn for Bolling one day in 2020 when he lost his temper while on a live segment for the BBC.
07:38According to Forbes, the trouble started when Bolling criticized the MLB for pulling an
07:42all-star game out of Atlanta because of voting rights issues in Georgia. Bolling reportedly claimed
07:47that the economic loss would disproportionately hurt people of color. Another guest on the show,
07:52Aisha Mills did not like that one bit.
07:55How dare you try to act like you are somehow a proponent of Black people and businesses
08:01just to make a point and to try to create a wedge?
08:04Mills went on to call Bolling's comments both ignorant and disrespectful.
08:08That did not sit well with Bolling, who got up and stormed off-set during the live segment.
08:13That's disgusting, I'm done, Bolling said, prior to bailing on the discussion.
08:18I am nowhere near anything you're painting me to be, and the problem with American politics
08:22is exactly that. Because I'm white, you think I'm racist? That's BS. I'm done.
08:27Bolling briefly returned but stomped off again when Mills refused to apologize.
08:33Eric Bolling gets a bit of a bad rap. After all, he stormed off-set, left a high-paying job amid
08:38sexual harassment allegations, and publicly feuded with Bill O'Reilly. Thankfully for Bolling,
08:43the news about him isn't all bad. In fact, one of Bolling's colleagues even credits the
08:47controversial pundit with saving his life. On a 2011 episode of The Five, Bob Beckel detailed
08:53how Bolling and Roger Ailes saved his life during a work lunch.
08:57I couldn't breathe at all, and the boss of bosses here at Fox, Roger Ailes, stood up and
09:02gave me the helmet. However, as Beckel explained, Ailes couldn't get his arm all the way around him.
09:07Still, Ailes managed to loosen up the blockage in Beckel's throat just enough for Bolling to step in and
09:12save the day.
09:13And then my brother here saved my existence because he got it out.
09:19As for what exactly it was, it was some shrimp Beckel ate too quickly.
09:24It should come as little surprise that after years on Fox Business and Fox News,
09:28Eric Bolling has built up quite a net worth. So how much is Bolling worth? According to Celebrity Net
09:34Worth, as of 2021, he's racked up about $25 million. It's got us wondering how exactly Bolling
09:40spends all that dough. Like most multi-millionaires, Bolling likes to invest his money in property.
09:45Case in point, in 2021, Bolling made waves when he listed his beachfront home in New Jersey for a
09:50cool $3.2 million. The home, which Bolling and his wife purchased for $2 million a few years earlier,
09:57comes with a whopping 75 feet of private beach, a jacuzzi tub, and crystal clear views of the beach,
10:04per NJ.com. Just because Bolling wanted to sell the beach house doesn't mean he wanted to get out
10:09of Jersey. He and his wife also own a massive home in Northern Jersey, per the outlet.
10:14When Eric Bolling left Fox News amid professional scandal and personal grief,
10:18it was the beginning of one of the most trying periods of his life. But as he told Benzinga News
10:23back in 2010, he thrives in a high-pressure competitive environment, and so it was eventually
10:29time for the conservative commentator to get back to work. Bolling spent some time bopping around,
10:34appearing as a talking head on various networks, including a stint on Sinclair Broadcast Group,
10:39where he hosted a show called America This Week with Eric Bolling. But nothing seemed like the right
10:44fit. Finally, in 2021, Bolling found his forever home. In June, Newsmax announced that Bolling had
10:50signed on to host a new show called Eric Bolling — The Balance, according to Deadline.
10:55Bolling's decision to join Newsmax came as little surprise to those in the know. The network is
11:00helmed by former President Donald Trump's close friend Chris Ruddy, who has recruited other
11:05conservative pundits to join the team in recent months. As for Bolling, he couldn't imagine a
11:10better fit, citing their similar feelings towards the state of the nation. Bolling said in a statement,
11:15Like myself, Newsmax is concerned with the direction that big tech and big corporate media have taken
11:20journalism and our nation.
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