Tucker Carlson has made a name for himself as an outspoken conservative commentator who is always ready and willing to take on the elites. Never forget the opening liner for his famous talk show: “Good evening and welcome to ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight,’ the show that is the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness, and groupthink.” And scene!
Ironically, Carlson himself doesn’t exactly hail from a blue-collar, working-class kind of family. Quite the contrary, actually. From a very young age, he attended prestigious prep schools, most notably St. George’s School in Rhode Island. It was at St. George’s that he met his future wife, Susan Andrews. Per the school’s official website, boarding tuition starts at an eye-popping $77,950. But how exactly did Carlson’s family get so rich, ultimately affording him a life of such privilege? As it turns out, the truth about Carlson’s wealthy family is that his father married into it. Let’s get into it, shall we?
Tucker Carlson’s father married well not once but twice
Swanson dinner, anyone? Perhaps one of the lesser-known truths about Tucker Carlson’s family is this: Tucker hails from the Swanson family by way of his stepmother, Patricia Swanson — yes, as in the original TV dinner Swansons! But make no mistake, even before Carlson’s father wed into the affluent frozen TV dinner dynasty, the Carlsons were doing just fine.
Meanwhile, Tucker’s relationship with his biological mother, Lisa McNear Carlson, was strained, to say the least. As reported by Business Insider, following his mother and father’s tumultuous split wherein his father was awarded full custody of both Tucker and his younger brother Buckley, Tucker’s mother essentially abandoned them. Tucker was only six at the time. Nevertheless, Lisa also hailed from a very prominent family. The family had business ties to both the grain importing industry and the cattle industry, with a reported 3 million acres of land at their disposal spanning across California, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada. Cha-ching!
As for Tucker’s father, Richard Warner Carson, he had deep ties in the media business and politics. According to his obituary, he got his start as a “copy boy” for the LA Times before climbing his way up the ladder, eventually becoming the CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 1992. In 1975, he was awarded the Peabody Award for his work as an investigative journalist, per the New York Times. He also served as ambassador to the Seychelles from 1991 to 1992. And who said nepotism is dead?!
