Joy Reid Biography
Joy Reid is a prominent American political commentator and television host, currently at the helm of her own show, The Joy Reid Show, which airs on YouTube through Image Lab Media. She gained widespread recognition for her role as the host of MSNBC’s political commentary program, The ReidOut, from 2020 to 2025. Before that, she anchored The Reid Report (2014–2015) and AM Joy (2016–2020), and she also worked as a national correspondent for MSNBC.
The New York Times has hailed Reid as a “heroine” who emerged from the political movements and protests against Donald Trump. She’s authored three insightful books: Fracture: Barack Obama, the Clintons, and the Racial Divide (2016), The Man Who Sold America: Trump and the Unraveling of the American Story (2019), and Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America (2024).
Reid kicked off her journalism career in 1997, making a bold move from a business consulting job in New York to join a morning show at WSVN Channel 7 in South Florida. She took a brief hiatus from journalism in 2003 to work with America Coming Together, where she opposed the Iraq War and President George W. Bush, but soon returned to the airwaves as a talk radio host and got involved in Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
From 2006 to 2007, Reid co-hosted the morning radio talk show Wake Up South Florida on Radio One’s WTPS in Miami, teaming up with James T. Thomas. She later took on the role of managing editor at The Grio (2011–2014), served as a political columnist for the Miami Herald (2003–2015), and was the editor of The Reid Report political blog (2000–2014).
Beyond her media endeavors, Reid teaches a course at Syracuse University in Manhattan that delves into race, gender, and the media. Alongside her husband, Jason, she co-founded Image Lab Media Group, a production company dedicated to creating impactful content.
Joy Reid Age
Reid is 57 years old as of 2026. He was born on 8 December 1968 in Brooklyn, New York, United States.
Joy Reid Height
Reid stands at a height of 5 feet 9 inches.
Joy Reid Family
Reid’s father was a college professor and nutritionist from Guyana, and her mother was from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Her parents met in graduate school at the Iowa City’s University of Iowa. Reid has one sister and one brother and was raised as a Methodist. Her father was an engineer who spent much of his time away from the family; her parents finally split, and her father went to the Congo. She spent much of her childhood in Denver, Colorado, until she was 17 years old, when her mother died of breast cancer and she relocated to Flatbush, Brooklyn, to live with an aunt. Reid earned a bachelor’s degree in cinema studies from Harvard University in 1991.
Joy Reid Husband and Children
Reid married Jason Reid in 1997, who went on to work as a documentary film editor. They have three children together.
Joy Reid Education
Reid said in a 2013 interview that her undergraduate experience was a fast immersion into a demographically opposite location from where she grew up, going from an 80% African American community to a 6% African American community. She had to adjust to living with roommates and individuals who were not related to her. She paid her own bills and tuition while at Harvard, and she described the experience as a positive learning and growth opportunity.
Joy Reid Weight Loss Surgery
Reid has lost a lot of weight although she has not shared her weight loss journey.
Joy Reid The Joy Reid Show
Joy Reid is a prominent American political commentator and television host, currently at the helm of her own show, The Joy Reid Show, which airs on YouTube through Image Lab Media. She gained widespread recognition for her role as the host of MSNBC’s political commentary program, The ReidOut, from 2020 to 2025. Before that, she anchored The Reid Report (2014–2015) and AM Joy (2016–2020), and she also worked as a national correspondent for MSNBC.
The New York Times has hailed Reid as a “heroine” who emerged from the political movements and protests against Donald Trump. She’s authored three insightful books: Fracture: Barack Obama, the Clintons, and the Racial Divide (2016), The Man Who Sold America: Trump and the Unraveling of the American Story (2019), and Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America (2024).
Reid kicked off her journalism career in 1997, making a bold move from a business consulting job in New York to join a morning show at WSVN Channel 7 in South Florida. She took a brief hiatus from journalism in 2003 to work with America Coming Together, where she opposed the Iraq War and President George W. Bush, but soon returned to the airwaves as a talk radio host and got involved in Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
From 2006 to 2007, Reid co-hosted the morning radio talk show Wake Up South Florida on Radio One’s WTPS in Miami, teaming up with James T. Thomas. She later took on the role of managing editor at The Grio (2011–2014), served as a political columnist for the Miami Herald (2003–2015), and was the editor of The Reid Report political blog (2000–2014).
Beyond her media endeavors, Reid teaches a course at Syracuse University in Manhattan that delves into race, gender, and the media. Alongside her husband, Jason, she co-founded Image Lab Media Group, a production company dedicated to creating impactful content.
Joy Reid MSNBC
From February 2014 to February 2015, Joy Reid was at the helm of her own MSNBC afternoon cable news show, The Reid Report. Unfortunately, the show was canceled on February 19, 2015, but Reid smoothly transitioned into a role as a national correspondent for MSNBC.
In May 2016, she kicked off her hosting duties for AM Joy, a weekend morning political talk show, while also stepping in for other MSNBC hosts like Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow whenever needed. By 2018, AM Joy was pulling in nearly a million viewers each week.
In 2017, Reid made waves on Twitter, ranking fourth among the most-tweeted news outlets and becoming the most-tweeted journalist across all of them. That same year, The Daily Dot recognized her for coining the term “KHive” to describe supporters of Kamala Harris.
Fast forward to July 2020, when MSNBC announced that Reid would be hosting The ReidOut, a weeknight commentary show based in Washington, taking over the 7 p.m. Eastern time slot that Chris Matthews had previously occupied. This milestone made her the first Black female primetime anchor in cable news. However, on February 23, 2025, The New York Times reported that MSNBC had decided to cancel The ReidOut, with its last episode set to air on February 24, 2025.
Joy Reid Controversies
Reid’s blog postings from 2005 to 2007 were made public in April 2018. Reid said she didn’t make the posts and wanted lawyers to look into if her blog or archives had been hacked. According to The Washington Post, Reid recommended the film Loose Change to her readers and remarked of Israel, “God is not a real estate salesman.” Joy Reid issued a formal apology for her previous articles in June 2018, adding, “I’m a better person today than I was over a decade ago.” MSNBC reaffirmed its support for Reid, saying that while some of his blog entries were “clearly vicious and hurtful,” they were “not reflective of the colleague and friend we have known for the previous seven years.”
