“I came out when I was 17. That’s not an issue for me, it’s not a decision for me. It’s not something I’ve ever thought about my whole adult life.”
Rachel Maddow is a television host, radio personality and political commentator. She is the first out lesbian to anchor a prime-time show. Maddow grew up in Castro Valley, California, a San Francisco suburb. She describes herself in high school as “a cross between the jock and the antisocial girl.”
She earned a degree in public policy from Stanford University. The first openly gay American to receive a Rhodes Scholarship, Maddow attended the University of Oxford, where she earned a doctorate in political science.
Maddow landed her first radio hosting job after winning a contest for a new on-air personality. In 2004, after hosting her second radio show, Maddow joined the newly established Air America as a co-host of “Unfiltered.” In 2005, Air America offered Maddow her own show. “The Rachel Maddow Show” is broadcast on Air America and XM Satellite Radio.
During the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, Maddow became a popular political commentator on CNN and MSNBC. In 2008, after substitute hosting on “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” Maddow was offered her own one-hour prime-time program, “The Rachel Maddow Show,” on MSNBC.
In 2008, Maddow was named one of Out magazine’s Out 100. In 2009, she received a Gracie Award from American Women in Radio and Television.
Maddow lives with her partner, artist Susan Mikula.
