Tammy Bruce was born on August 20,1962,in Northridge,California. Her mother was a retail store clerk.[2] Bruce has never met her biological father,saying that he "disappeared a few months before I was born".[3]
After leaving her formal education at 15,Bruce moved to Illinois and began a series of minor jobs. She moved back to Los Angeles and worked as a personal secretary for Brenda Benet until 1982.[7] She later worked for Gloria Loring and her then-husband,Alan Thicke.[8]
Bruce also worked in electronic publicity,creating video news releases and press kits to distribute to news organizations.[9]
Feminism (1990–2000s)
For seven years,Bruce served as president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) (1990–1996). She was the youngest woman at the time to lead a major chapter of NOW.[10]
In 1995,responding to the verdict in the O. J. Simpson murder trial,Bruce said "What we need to teach our children is...not about racism,but is about violence against women″and that her message to Simpson was "You are not welcome here,you are not welcome in this country,you are not welcome on our airwaves,you are not welcome in our culture." She also refused to discuss the issue on a talk show,reportedly saying "I don’t have time to argue with a bunch of black women;we’ve moved beyond that."[11] The NOW Executive Board voted to censure her for what it called these "racially insensitive comments".[12]:5[11][10][13] In May 1996,Bruce resigned as president of Los Angeles NOW.[14] Bruce claimed that the censure was due to her focus on domestic violence,as opposed to defense attorney Johnnie Cochran's "racial issues" trial argument.[15] Since then,Bruce has written about the dispute in her critique on what she sees as the failings of NOW and the political left in general. She has said that the feminist establishment in the U.S. has abandoned authentic feminism.[16] Bruce resigned from NOW five months later,in May 1996. She launched a new organization,the Women’s Progress Alliance with Denise Brown,the sister of Nicole Brown Simpson,saying “We both have been controversial,and we both will remain controversial."[10][17]
In 1997,Bruce hosted an overnight weekend talk show on KFI.[18] Bruce hosted a national radio program on Talk Radio Network throughout much of the 2000s.[citation needed]
In 2003,Bruce was appointed to serve on California Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger's transition team following his successful recall election against Governor Gray Davis.[19]
Political commentator (2010–2024)
Bruce had been a Democrat and a liberal activist,but later became a conservative.[1][20] In a 2010 op-ed,she wrote the following:"The real story of bigotry and intolerance is the fact that it lives and thrives on the left. As a gay woman who spent most of her adult life pushing the cart for liberal causes with liberal friends in a liberal city,I found that sexism,racism and homophobia are staples in the liberal world. The huge irony is liberals spend every ounce of energy promoting the notion that they are the banner carriers of individualism and personal freedom,yet the hammer comes down on anyone who dares not to conform to,or who dissents even in part from,the liberal agenda".[1]
Bruce returned to Talk Radio Network in November 2012 as a guest host during the move of The Laura Ingraham Show from TRN to Courtside Entertainment Group.[citation needed]. In 2014,Bruce created a short video for the conservative YouTube channel Prager University in which she summarized her criticisms of the contemporary feminist movement.[21][bettersourceneeded]
Bruce was the subject of controversy in May 2017,when appearing as a guest on Fox News show Tucker Carlson Tonight. She criticized an autistic child for asking Vice President Mike Pence for an apology when he accidentally brushed the young boy in the face.[22] She later apologized on air.[23]
In December 2018,Bruce appeared on Fox News to criticize the decision of one Scottish coffee shop to call "gingerbread men" "gingerbread people". Bruce said,"obviously,they're men". She characterized the decision by the coffee shop as "the tipping point" in policing free speech.[24][25][26]
Bruce was a Fox News contributor.[27] In 2019,she became the host of Get Tammy Bruce,which airs on the Fox Nation streaming service.[28][29]
In June 2025,Bruce received backlash from many America First supporters when she said that the US was "the greatest country on earth next to Israel".[31]
Personal life
At the age of 17,Bruce commenced a romantic partnership with 34-year-old actress Brenda Benet. At the time,Bruce was employed as Benet's personal secretary.[32]:2–5[33] Later,Bruce and Benet lived together for nearly a year before Bruce moved out of their shared residence. After her son’s death,Benet became severely depressed. On April 7,1982,Benet died of a self-inflicted gunshot at her home before she was scheduled to have lunch with Bruce.[34][35][36]
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