Who is Mika Brzezinski? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Also Known As: Mika Emilie Leonia Brzezinski, Mika Emilie Leonia Brzezinski Scarborough

Age: 56 Years, 56 Year Old Females

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Joe Scarborough (m. 2018), James Hoffer (1993-2016)

father: Zbigniew Brzezinski

mother: Emilie Benešová

children: Carlie Hoffer, Emilie Hoffer

Born Country: United States

Writers TV Anchors

Height: 5'7" (170 cm), 5'7" Females

Ancestry: Swiss American, Czech American

U.S. State: New Yorkers

More Facts

education: Williams College

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Childhood & Early Life

Mika Emilie Leonia Brzezinski was born on May 2, 1967, in New York City, U.S., to Polish–American diplomat and former national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski and Swiss–American sculptor Emilie Anna Benešová. One of her elder brothers, Mark Brzezinski, is a diplomat and has served as the U.S. ambassador to Sweden from 2011 to 2015. Her other elder brother, Ian Brzezinski, is a foreign policy and military affairs expert and has served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for the country’s Europe and ‘NATO’ policies.

Mika Brzezinski attended the 'Madeira School' and 'Georgetown University.' She was then moved to 'Williams College' in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where she graduated with a major in English in 1989.

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Career

In 1990, Mika Brzezinski earned her first journalism job as an assistant on the ‘ABC’ show 'World News This Morning.' The following year, she moved to Hartford, Connecticut, to join ‘WTIC-TV’/‘WTIC-DT,’ affiliated to 'Fox,' as an assignment and features editor. Brzezinski was promoted to the position of a general assignments reporter.

In 1992, she left ‘Fox’ and joined the ‘CBS’-affiliated ‘WFSB-TV’/‘WFSB-DT.’ She was eventually promoted to its weekday morning anchor in 1995.

Mika Brzezinski quit the affiliated channel in 1997 and became a correspondent for 'CBS News.' She also hosted the news program 'Up to the Minute' for the channel.

During her short break from 'CBS News' in 2001, Brzezinski joined the rival network, ‘MSNBC,’ and co-hosted the program 'HomePage,' along with Gina Gaston and Ashleigh Banfield.

Brzezinski made her comeback as a 'CBS News' correspondent during the September 11, 2001, attacks. She reported the collapse of the ‘South Tower’ live.

She left 'CBS News' as a correspondent, standby anchor, and host for the breaking news segments and routine updates. She also contributed to the CBS shows ‘Sunday Morning’ and '60 Minutes.'

Reportedly, Mika Brzezinski and many more were dismissed by the network in 2006, so that they could pay Katie Couric an estimated annual salary of $15 million.

Brzezinski went back to ‘MSNBC’ on January 26, 2007, as a contributor to the 'Up to the Minute' news updates and weekly primetime newsbreaks. She occasionally reported for 'NBC Nightly News' and hosted 'Weekend Today,' before joining Joe Scarborough's 'Morning Joe' as his co-host.

Her memoir, titled 'All Things at Once,' became a 'New York Times' bestseller in January 2010. The following year, she released her second book, 'Knowing Your Value: Women, Money and Getting What You're Worth,' which was also on the 'New York Times' bestsellers’ list for business books in 2011. Her third book, 'Obsessed: America's Food Addiction and My Own,' another bestseller, was published in 2012.

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In 2014, Mika Brzezinski collaborated with 'NBCUniversal' to produce the women-empowerment-based project 'Know Your Value.' She started its sequel, 'Grow Your Value,' the following year.

She and her 'Morning Joe' co-host, Joe Scarborough, were inducted into the 'Cable Hall of Fame.'

She co-authored the book 'Earn It!: Know Your Value and Grow Your Career, in Your 20s and Beyond' with Daniela Pierre-Bravo, which released in 2019.

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Controversies

On June 26, 2007, just before an episode of 'Morning Joe' was about to air, Mika Brzezinski, refused to present a report on Paris Hilton's release from jail, as she found the news related to the Iraq War more critical. As a result, her producer, Andy Jones, listed the Paris Hilton news as the lead story of the day. Brzezinski attempted to burn the script of Hilton's story while on air, but her co-host, Geist, stopped her.

She ended up tearing the script and later shredded a copy of it. The whole incident was all over the internet. Brzezinski's fans supported her throughout, because she gave importance to the real issues of the world over mere entertainment news.

Mika Brzezinski faced a similar incident when, on July 7, 2010, she was forced to present a piece of news related to Lindsay Lohan and Levi Johnston. Geist and Pat Buchanan eventually reported the story with sarcasm, using the caption "News You Can't Use."

While 'Morning Joe' was covering Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, 'The Washington Post' journalist Erik Wemple criticized Brzezinski and co-host Scarborough for interviewing Trump several times over the phone. Wemple tried to give the incident a different angle, whereas, in reality, the 'Morning Joe' hosts had always been critical of Trump.

After ‘Democratic’ candidate Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election, Brzezinski revealed that Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chairperson of the 'Democratic National Committee,' had used her influence to stop her from reporting how the ‘Democratic Party’ had favored Clinton over Bernie Sanders, even though the latter had earned a considerable percentage of delegates for the former.

On February 15, 2017, Brzezinski publicly announced that she had permanently banned Trump's spokesperson, Kellyanne Conway, from appearing on her show.

After Brzezinski called Trump a “fake and failed” president in March 2017, he unfollowed both the 'Morning Joe' hosts on 'Twitter.'

In late June 2017, in continuation with Brzezinski and Trump's 'Twitter' war, he called her "low I.Q. Crazy Mika" and even body-shamed her. In response, Brzezinski and Scarborough exposed Trump, saying that they had been threatened by ‘White House’ officials. They said they had been blackmailed that they would be exposed if they did not issue a public apology to the president.

In December 2018, Brzezinski's comment on secretary of state Mike Pompeo, with reference to Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, during a live ‘MSNBC’ broadcast, was widely criticized as homophobic.

On May 20, 2020, Brzezinski again exposed Trump for accusing Scarborough, her husband, of being involved in the death of his intern, Lori Klausutis.

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Family & Personal Life

Mika Brzezinski was married to TV news reporter James Patrick Hoffer from October 1993 until their divorce in 2016. They have two daughters: Emilie and Carlie Hoffer.

The divorce followed after rumors of her affair with co-host Scarborough surfaced.

Brzezinski and Scarborough got engaged in early 2017. They got married on November 24, 2018, in Washington, D.C.

Mika Brzezinski Biography