Rachel Campos-DuffyCampos-Duffy, Rachel (December 19, 2007). "I'm Expecting My 5th: What To Make Of The Trend In Bigger Families". Parent Dish. ( Campos; born October 22, 1971) is an American conservative television personality. She first appeared on television in 1994 as a cast member on the MTV reality television series The Real World: San Francisco, before moving on to work as a television host. She was a guest host on the ABC talk show The View, before moving to Fox News,"Rachel Campos-Duffy". Fox News. Retrieved June 7, 2018. where she has guest-hosted the show OutnumberedVarma-White, Kavita (January 29, 2016). "Meet Rachel Campos-Duffy: mom of 7 and a TODAY Tastemaker". Today. before being hired as a permanent co-host on Fox & Friends Weekend in May 2021.
Early life Rachel Campos was born and raised in Tempe, Arizona; her parents, Miguel Campos and Maria del Pilar,"Leah Campos Schandlbauer: Mother of Four, CIA Operations Officer Declares for Congress in District 9" . Sonoran Alliance. March 26, 2012. "Campos Schandlbauer is the daughter of Miguel Campos and Maria dal Pilar, who raised their four children at Air Force bases...""Our world's Rachel Campos doesn't fit the slacker mold". The Arizona Republic, page E5. Reprinted at Newspapers.com. (Page 42). Retrieved December 23, 2019. were junior high school teachers in Chandler, Arizona. Her paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Mexico.Relman, Eliza (June 22, 2018). "Fox News commentator: Black people I've talked to say immigrant detention centers are nicer than the projects". Business Insider. Her mother is an immigrant from Spain. She has two brothers, Patrick Campos and Joseph Campos. Her sister, Leah, is a former CIA operations officer who ran for the U.S. Congress in Arizona in 2012.Campos-Duffy, Rachel. Stay Home, Stay Happy: 10 Secrets to Loving At-Home Motherhood. Celebra Trade. 2009. Acknowledgements. Campos and her siblings were raised in a strict Catholic home.
Campos graduated from Seton Catholic High School. Reprinted at Newspapers.com (Page 38). She graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in economics. She was awarded the Woodrow Wilson Graduate Fellowship, which she had planned to use to attend graduate school, with the goal of being a college professor. Campos earned a master's degree in international affairs from the University of California, San Diego.
Career
The Real World: San Francisco Campos was cast on The Real World: San Francisco in January 1994, and lived in the house on Russian Hill in San Francisco with her six housemates from February 12 to June 19.Winick, Judd (2000). Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss and What I Learned. Henry Holt. pp. 61 and 119. The season premiered on July 6, 1994.
Although the castmates were informed ahead of time that they would be living with someone who was HIV-positive, they were not informed which housemate it would be.Winick (2000). pp. 30, 63–64. On the cast's first night in the house, Campos’ housemate, AIDS educator Pedro Zamora, informed the housemates that he had AIDS by showing them his scrapbook of his career as an HIV educator. Although Campos initially felt uncomfortable and distanced herself from Zamora out of health concerns, the two eventually became friends, with Zamora traveling to Arizona with Campos to visit her family. During her time on the series, she had both a romantic relationship and tumultuous friendship with housemate David "Puck" Rainey. Fellow cast member Judd Winick attributed this attraction on her part to her taste for rebellious men, or "bad boys". Campos conceded this, and admitted that she was sometimes an initial bad judge of character, and too trusting. Campos' friendship with Rainey eventually dissolved, as did Rainey's friendship with the rest of the cast,The Real World Diaries. MTV Books/Pocket Books. 1996. pp. 146–147. resulting in his eviction. Campos subsequently became best friends with Rainey's replacement, Joanna Rhodes, and the two of them were referred to by Winick as "high maintenance twins."Their rapport is mentioned in Episodes 14, 17 and 18. Winick uses the term during the bicycling trip in Episode 17.
On the show and in MTV's promotional materials for the show, Campos was depicted as a passionate Republican, whose heroes included Jack Kemp, and as a Roman Catholic, though she conceded her strict religious upbringing fostered within her a rebellious streak that sometimes brought her into conflict with her parents. Her political viewpoints led to conflict with her housemates on more than one occasion, as when Mohammed Bilal ridiculed the Republican housing ideas that she expressed in Episode 3.
In 1998 Campos taped Road Rules: All Stars, along with alumni of other past Real World seasons, such as Sean Duffy of The Real World: Boston cast, whom she would later marry.
Campos-Duffy was one of ten Real World alumni who starred in the 2003 film The Wedding Video, a Real World parody centered on the wedding of first season alumnus Norman Korpi.
The View Campos tried out three times for a co-host spot on the daytime television talk show The View. After Debbie Matenopoulos left the show in 1999, Campos competed in an on-air try-out with Lisa Ling and Lauren Sánchez; Ling was eventually hired. After Ling's departure in 2002, Campos—who by then held her own "coffee talk" show with other Wisconsin housewives—again competed in a week-long on-air try-out, this time against Erin Hershey Presley and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. In November 2003, Hasselbeck was hired to replace Ling. In July 2013 when Hasselbeck left The View to replace Gretchen Carlson as the female co-host of Fox & Friends, Campos once again tried out but Jenny McCarthy was hired to fill the spot.Rosenblit, Rachel (March 21, 2013). "TV & Movies Who will replace Joy Behar on 'The View'? ABC eyes Kathy Griffin, Brooke Shields, Gloria Estefan and others as contenders". Daily News (New York).
Fox News On June 21, 2018, during an appearance on the Fox News program The Ingraham Angle, Campos-Duffy defended the Trump administration's controversial practice of separating immigrant families arrested crossing the US border. Speaking of the facilities where the children were housed, she said, "The detention centers are far safer than the journey that these children just came on, and I will say this...people aren't stupid. I spoke to some African-Americans who say, 'Gosh, the conditions of the detention centers are better than some of the projects that I grew up in.'"Levine, Jon (June 22, 2018). "Fox News Contributor: Black People Say Detention Centers Better Than ‘the Projects That I Grew up In’". San Francisco Chronicle.Anapol, Avery (June 22, 2018). "Fox News contributor: Black people tell me conditions in border detention centers 'are better than some of the projects'". The Hill. The comments drew immediate criticism, including from Vox reporter Jane Coaston,<ref name=BusinessInsider New York Times Magazine writer Nikole Hannah-Jones, Britni Danielle of Essence magazine, and filmmaker Ava DuVernay.
In May 2021 Campos-Duffy was hired as a permanent co-host on Fox & Friends Weekend.
On August 22, 2021, Campos-Duffy criticized President Joe Biden for the Taliban retaking of Afghanistan, blaming his "mental state" for the event. She also blamed First Lady Jill Biden, EdD, saying that she failed the country by allowing her husband to run for president. Jill Biden's press secretary, Michael LaRosa, responded the following day, calling the comments "disgusting" and saying that "[Campos-Duffy and Fox News] know better. They can do better and their viewers deserve better. I hope they'll apologize to the First Lady and leave this kind of talk in the [trash] where it belongs."
On March 14, 2022, Campos-Duffy stated that the United States provoked Russia's invasion of Ukraine the month prior, a point with which her co-host, Brian Kilmeade, disagreed.
Activism and advocacy
Campos-Duffy is the national spokesperson for The LIBRE Initiative, a non-profit organizationCampos-Duffy, Rachel (December 4, 2015). "My Turn: No, Hillary, Hispanics need school choice". AZCentral."How GOP can help with economic prosperity" . Morning Joe, MSNBC. December 17, 2013. Retrieved June 6, 2018.Jordan, Mary; O'Keefe, Ed (April 30, 2015). "Koch brothers make push to court Latinos, alarming many Democrats". The Washington Post. whose stated mission is to promote ideas about constitutionally limited government, property rights, rule of law, economic stability, and free market capitalism to the Hispanic community.
Campos-Duffy supported Scott Walker in the Republican primary for the 2016 presidential election.
Personal life After her stint on The Real World ended, Campos was involved in a head-on car collision after the driver of an oncoming vehicle fell asleep at the wheel. Campos' boyfriend and his friend, who was driving their rented car, died in the crash. Campos was thrown out of the passenger-side window and sustained serious injuries to her right leg that caused long-term problems such as arthritis, a limp, and difficulty running.Campos-Duffy, Rachel (September 9, 2009). "Gory Texting PSA is Good for Teens". ParentDish. HuffPost Parents.
Campos married her Road Rules: All Stars costar Sean Duffy. They lived in Ashland, Wisconsin, where Duffy was the District Attorney of Ashland County. In 2011, Duffy became a Republican member of Congress for the 7th district of Wisconsin. The Duffys moved from Ashland to Weston, Wisconsin in late 2011,Olivo, Rick (October 19, 2011). "Mr. Duffy moves to Weston". Ashland Daily Press/Sawyer County Record. and in 2013, they moved to Wausau, Wisconsin so that Sean would be closer to an airport for his weekly commute to Washington, D.C. where he spent three or four days a week.
In 2008, Campos-Duffy revealed that she suffered two miscarriages."Update: Sean and Rachel Campos-Duffy expecting fifth child". People. January 15, 2008. As of May 2016, they had eight children.Mizoguchi, Karen (June 3, 2016). "Sean and Rachel Campos-Duffy Welcome Son Patrick Miguel" . People. The Duffys' ninth child, a daughter, was born in 2019. She was born one month early and has Down syndrome. Due to the baby's anticipated health complications, including a heart condition, Sean Duffy announced that he was resigning from Congress, effective September 23, 2019, in order to focus his time and attention on his family. As of 2025, Duffy is serving as the United States Secretary of Transportation. Duffy has additionally served as the acting administrator of NASA since 2025.
In popular culture In Pedro, Nick Oceano's 2008 film dramatizing Pedro Zamora's life, Campos-Duffy is portrayed by Karolina Luna.
Filmography The Real World: San Francisco (1994) The Real World Vacations: Behind the Scenes (1995) Hostess The Real World Reunion (1995) The Real World Reunion: Inside Out (1996) The Real World You Never Saw (1997) Road Rules: All Stars (1998) The Real World You Never Saw: Boston + Seattle (1998) The Real World Reunion 2000 (2000) The Real World Movie: The Lost Season (2002) The Wedding Video (2003) The View – Episode: November 4 (2003) Guest Co-Host The View – Episode: October 12 (2009) Guest Co-Host The View – Episode: March 5 (2014) Guest Co-Host The View – Episode: March 6 (2014) Guest Co-Host
References
External links