Brianna Keilar

Brianna Marie Keilar, an Australian-born journalist, was born September 21, 1980. She is currently the co-anchor for New Day on CNN with John Berman. Her previous roles included White House correspondent, senior journalist, Congressional correspondent, and general assignment correspondent at CNN Washington. Keilar was previously a CNN Newsource national correspondent. Before joining New Day she was host of CNN Right Now with Brianna Kesselar.

Education and early life

Keilar was born in Canberra (Australian Capital Territory), Australia. Her father Glenn and mother Miriam are both Australian. At the time Brianna was born, the Keilars were in Australia. [2] Keilar and her family immigrated to the United States in 1982 and settled in Orange County. Keilar graduated in 1998 from Mission Viejo High School, where she was voted homecoming princess in her senior year. Keilar attended University of California Berkeley in 2001, where she received dual bachelor’s degrees (in mass communication and psychology).

Career

Keilar started her career on air in Yakima (Washington) at KIMA, a CBS affiliate. Keilar also hosted the morning drivetime show Billy Blue and Brianna on CBS affiliate KIMA. She was also a co-host of The Morning Zoo, a contemporary hits station KFFM. After moving to CBS News, she was an anchor, reporter, and producer for a CBS News newscast that aired exclusively on MTVU (MTV’s college network). She also served as a fill in anchor for the CBS News night newscast, Up to the Minute.

Keilar was a CBS correspondent and joined CNN Newsource as a CNN Newsource correspondent. She provides breaking news coverage from Washington DC for around 800 CNN Newsource partner stations. She was a general assignment correspondent and covered many stories including the Virginia Tech massacre of 2007.

Keilar was a journalist covering Congress and won the 2009 National Press Foundation Everett McKinley Dirksen award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress. This award was for her fall 2008 coverage on the $700 Billion bank bailout. [6] Keilar was awarded the White House Correspondents Association’s 2014 Aldo Beckman memorial Award for her coverage on the rollout Obamacare.

Keilar is a military spouse who started writing a column called Home Front, which tells stories about military families.

Keilar announced her decision to leave New Day with John Berman in September 2022. She will still co-anchor the show through the launch of the new CNN morning show. She will assume a new anchor position at the network.

Personal Life

Keilar was married to Dave French on May 2, 2009. Later, they divorced. Keilar, an active-duty Green Beret, announced her engagement to Fernando Lujan in July 2016. Fernando was then a director at the White House’s National Security Council. Brooke Baldwin, CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live host, announced that Keilar had married Lujan the night before in Las Vegas. On June 8, 2018, she gave birth to a boy.

Keilar, who was suffering from COVID-19-related symptoms, announced that she had a breakthrough infection on December 17, 2021.