Jennifer Eckhart, the former Fox Business associate producer who became widely known through a high-profile lawsuit against former Fox News anchor Ed Henry, has died at the age of 36.

Eckhart was found dead at her home in Hobe Sound, Florida, on September 19. Her mother went to the residence and contacted authorities, according to a Martin County Sheriff’s Office incident report obtained by USA TODAY. She was pronounced dead at 11:57 a.m.

Her death brings renewed attention to a career that stretched beyond television production and became intertwined with one of the more closely followed workplace misconduct cases involving Fox News in recent years.

But Eckhart’s public story did not end with that legal fight.

In the years after leaving Fox, she started a podcast devoted to people rebuilding their lives after setbacks, a theme that gave her later career a very different identity.

From Fox Business to a public legal battle

Eckhart joined Fox Business Network in 2013 and worked as an associate producer. During her time with the company, she also appeared on Fox News and Fox Nation.

She became widely known in 2020 after suing Ed Henry, then a prominent Fox News anchor.

Eckhart accused Henry of rape and other sexual misconduct during the period in which they worked at the network. Henry denied her allegations and maintained that their relationship had been consensual.

Fox News fired Henry in July 2020 after receiving a complaint concerning alleged sexual misconduct and carrying out an investigation.

Eckhart had been fired from Fox the previous month. The network said her termination involved tardiness, disclosure of a proprietary graphics package and misappropriation of company resources. Eckhart alleged that her dismissal was retaliatory.

She also brought claims against Fox News, accusing the network of failing to protect her and failing to take appropriate action over Henry’s alleged conduct.

Those claims against Fox were later dismissed.

A federal appeals court upheld the dismissal in April 2025, with the court finding that Fox News did not know about Henry’s alleged conduct before Eckhart came forward.

The remaining litigation involving Henry was eventually settled before the case went to trial. Deadline reported that the settlement came in June 2025, days before a trial had been scheduled to begin.

‘I didn’t have a voice until now’

One of the more personal accounts of Eckhart’s experience came from Eckhart herself.

Speaking publicly about her years at Fox, she described being consumed by fear while working at the network.

“I think it’s safe to say that I was paralyzed by fear when I was working there,” Eckhart said.

She went further in explaining why she felt unable to speak earlier.

“I felt that he had the power to derail me, to destroy me, to ruin my career,” she said. “And, I just, I didn’t have a voice until now.”

Those remarks offered a more personal dimension to a case that had often been covered primarily through court filings, legal decisions and statements from the parties involved.

For Eckhart, the dispute had become about more than what she alleged had happened. Her comments also reflected how she believed the workplace power imbalance had affected her ability to respond at the time.

Henry consistently denied Eckhart’s allegations and said their relationship was consensual.

A second chapter built around ‘REINVENTED’

After leaving Fox, Eckhart gradually created a public identity that was not centered solely on the lawsuit.

In August 2021, she launched “REINVENTED with Jen Eckhart,” a podcast featuring conversations with people from business, entertainment, sports and public life.

The show’s central idea was straightforward but personal: what happens after a major setback?

Its guests included people who had faced difficult periods and rebuilt parts of their personal or professional lives.

Among the podcast’s early guests was Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox News anchor who had sued former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes for sexual harassment.

USA TODAY described the podcast as a series focused on personal reinvention, highlighting people who had navigated setbacks and rebuilt their lives or careers. Its most recent episode was released in March.

That focus gave Eckhart’s later career an unusual symmetry.

She had become nationally known through allegations connected to one of the most difficult periods of her professional life. Yet the platform she eventually created was not principally about the lawsuit. It was about what people did afterward.

A career with two very different chapters

Eckhart’s professional life ultimately divided into two distinctly different periods.

The first was spent inside a major television news organization, working as a producer and occasionally appearing on Fox platforms.

The second unfolded largely in public, beginning with a legal battle that lasted for years and followed by a podcast in which she spoke to people about starting again.

After once saying she felt she “didn’t have a voice,” Eckhart went on to create a show built almost entirely around conversation.

Jennifer Eckhart was 36.

Also Read: Xiaomi 18 Pro and Pro Max: Battery, Camera, Display, Launch Date and Everything We Know