On 9 July, Watters was born in 1978 in the beautiful city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His dad, Stephen Hapgood Watters, was a professor, and his mom, Anne Purvis, was a kid psychologist. Anne’s dad, Morton Bailey Jr., was the publisher of Better Homes and Gardens journal.
On her side of the family, Watters’ great-grandfather was Morton Bailey Sr., who issued The Saturday Evening Post, and his great-great-grandfather was politician Morton S. Bailey.
Watters’ grandfather on his father’s side was Franklin Benjamin Watters. He served at a clinic and taught at a medical school. Some of Watters’ ancestors were from Ireland through his father’s family.
Watters got his name from Jesse Andrew Burnett, who is Anne’s great-grandfather and an essential judge in Kansas.
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Watters was raised in Germantown and then East Falls neighborhoods. He visited William Penn Charter School until his junior year before moving with his parents to Long Island, New York. In 2001, he got a degree in history from Trinity College.
Fox News Channel
After completing university, Watters began serving at Fox News as a production assistant. He joined the staff of “The O’Reilly Factor” in 2003 and started his own segment named “Watters’ World.” In 2014, he appeared on the talk show “Outnumbered,” which has 4 female panelists and 1 male guest panelist.
In November 2015, Watters began his own play on Fox News named “Watters’ World.” In early 2017, it started airing every Saturday at 8 PM ET. Afterward, he became a co-host of the talk show sequel “The Five,” where 5 people talk about news and politics. He hosts the show with Greg Gutfeld and Dana Perino, along with other guest commentators occasionally.
Books
Watters wrote a textbook named “How I Saved the World” that was printed by HarperCollins in July 2021. The book became a bestseller on the New York Times nonfiction index.
Controversies
Watters has been charged for saying wrong and racist things. In 2017, he falsely declared that Hillary Clinton’s campaign director gave his password to a hacker. He also declared climate change is not a big deal and defended splitting kids from their families.
In 2009, Watters and his photographer ambushed reporter Amanda Terkel while she was on holiday. Years later, another reporter asked Watters to apologize, but he got angry and threw the person’s phone on the floor.
Watters got in trouble in 2016 for a segment on his show where he said racist things to Asian Americans. He asked Chinese Americans if they knew karate and made fun of them by playing a song named “Kung Fu Fighting.” The mayor of New York City and other individuals blamed him for being racist.
In 2020, Watters got more criticism when he spoke good things about a group named QAnon on his show.
Jesse Watters Wife and Kids
Jesse wedded Noelle Inguagiato in 2009, and they had 2 daughters. Noelle asked for a divorce in 2018 after Watters revealed he was having a romantic relationship with a producer on his play, Emma DiGiovine.
In March 2019, Inguagiato and Watters’ divorce was finalized. Watters declared his engagement to DiGiovine in August 2019, and they got wedded that December. They had a son together in 2021.