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CNN political analyst Kasie Hunt gave birth to a healthy baby girl after experiencing a “13-minute sudden labor” in the bathroom of her home, she has revealed.
The New York Post reported Saturday that Hunt “revealed her second child with husband Matthew Mario Rivera weighed in at 8 pounds, 4 ounces after Wednesday’s unplanned delivery.” The outlet cited a report in PEOPLE magazine.
“We were expecting her to arrive via a scheduled C-section on Thursday morning. She had other plans!” the two parents told PEOPLE in a statement. “We are thrilled to announce the birth of our baby girl, Grey Hunt Rivera. Proud big brother [Mars Hunt, 3½] can’t stop talking about his new baby sister.”
“Grey is already showing us her independent streak,” she quipped.
CNN's Kasie Hunt Welcomes Second Baby at Home in the Bathroom After '13-Minute Sudden Labor' https://t.co/kyjgOOhcTm
— People (@people) March 3, 2023
“Grey was born at home, early Wednesday morning, after 13 minutes of sudden labor — before there was even time to call the paramedics,” according to the couple. “Dad sprang into action and delivered baby Grey on the bathroom floor.”
“We are so grateful to the 911 operators and the DC Fire & EMS team,” they told PEOPLE.
“Step-by-step, they talked us through the incredibly intense moments right after she was born and as she took her first breaths.”
They added: “Thank you to the firefighters and paramedics on the scene who treated mom and baby at home and then brought us safely to Sibley Hospital in Washington. It’s a day we’ll never forget!”
Thank you @abbydphillip and all my wonderful @CNN colleagues for this lovely welcome for baby Grey ♥️ 📺 pic.twitter.com/8QYXm29HOZ
— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) March 3, 2023
“We’re so excited about life as a family of four — and reminded it’s going to be that much more unpredictable!” they also told the magazine.
In August 2021, upon starting her new role at CNN, Kasie revealed that a benign tumor had been discovered in her brain. She underwent a four-hour operation in October 2021 to have it removed, The Post reported.
Hunt was brought on board at CNN by former CEO Jeff Zucker, who intended to showcase her as part of the network’s high-profile roster for its streaming service, CNN+. However, Zucker resigned after it was revealed that he had been involved in a consensual relationship with Allison Gollust, his top marketing officer, for several years. And CNN+ failed to attract subscribers and was shut down less than a month after its launch.
Former Fox News anchor Chris Wallace was also tapped to star on CNN+, but after it tanked, he took a gig on the main network, but it hasn’t gone well.
In fact, according to the latest Nielsen ratings, his show, “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace,” scored its lowest during the month of January in terms of overall viewers, with the final week of the month being the worst since the program launched in the spring of 2022.
For the entire month of January, “Wallace’s show averaged only 365,000 viewers. Even worse, in advertisers’ coveted 25-54 demographic, his struggling program pulled in an average of just 48,000 viewers,” the Western Journal reported.
The Washington Examiner noted as well that on a recent Sunday, Wallace’s program only managed to pull in around 323,000 viewers and 38,000 in the 25-54 demo.
The Western Journal added:
Wallace can’t win for losing these days, it seems. It’s not that people aren’t tuning into Sunday news programs, either. Take a gander at former Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy’s Sunday Fox News show for proof. “Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy” managed to garner over 1 million viewers on average in January, according to US TVDB. Gowdy also roughly doubled the number of 25-54 demographic viewers that Wallace pulled in.
Generally speaking, CNN is struggling mightily, with few of its shows really gaining much traction, including the recently revamped morning show.
“CNN just notched its lowest ratings in nine years across all its day parts for the week of Jan. 16 through Jan. 22, 2023, according to Nielsen, averaging just 444,000 viewers in primetime, 93,000 in the all-important age 25-54 news demographic and 417,000 in viewers and 80,000 in the demo for total day,” The Wrap reported in early February. “It’s the first time since May 2014 that the network failed to reach 450,000 viewers.”
“By comparison, during the same period, Fox News drew 1.4 million viewers and 176,000 in the demo while MSNBC notched 629,000 total viewers and 69,000 in the demo. In primetime, Fox News had 2 million viewers, 256,000 in the demo and MSNBC had 943,000 viewers and 91,000 in the demo,” the report continued, adding that the new morning show featuring co-stars Don Lemon, Poppy Harlow, and Kaitlin Collins is also tanking.