Judith Regan

Growing up on Long Island, Regan earned a BA in English from Vassar College. In the late 1970s, she studied voice and worked as a secretary before becoming a reporter for the National Enquirer. In 1987 Regan proposed a book on American families and their role models to Simon & Schuster. The editors were impressed, and she joined Simon & Schuster, developing a string of best-selling celebrity “tell-all” books, including those by talk show host Rush Limbaugh and radio personality Howard Stern. Her aggressive, sales-oriented approach was highly successful, but critics charged she was undermining publishing by manufacturing personality-driven books. In 1994 Rupert Murdoch gave Regan her own imprint at HarperCollins, ReganBooks, and a TV show on Fox News. A Manhattan resident, Regan is divorced and has two children.