Tammy Bruce

Tammy K. Bruce was born on August 20, 1962 in Northridge, California. Her mother was a retail store clerk.{{cite web |last1=Dickey |first1=Fred |title=The Disaffection of Tammy Bruce |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jun-02-tm-44711-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |access-date=1 March 2025 |date=2 June 2002}} Bruce has never met her biological father, who disappeared a few months before Bruce was born.{{cite web |last1=Levine |first1=Bettijane |title=Seizing the Day : NOW Leader Tammy Bruce Has Done What O.J. Prosecutors Couldn't: Put Domestic Violence Upfront |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-10-18-ls-58415-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |access-date=1 March 2025 |date=18 October 1995}}

Bruce went to Ventura High School, where she lasted only two weeks. She subsequently took the California Proficiency Exam and passed.{{cite web |last1=Levine |first1=Bettijane |title=Seizing the Day : NOW Leader Tammy Bruce Has Done What O.J. Prosecutors Couldn't: Put Domestic Violence Upfront |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-10-18-ls-58415-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |access-date=1 March 2025 |date=18 October 1995}} Bruce holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Southern California.{{cite web|url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2011/01/tammy-bruce-and-sarah-palin-why-an-openly-gay-ex-now-official-is-palin-s-biggest-fan.html|title=Sarah Palin's Biggest Fan|work=Slate|last=Malone|first=Noreen|date=January 20, 2011|access-date=October 11, 2019}}{{cite web |last1=Dickey |first1=Fred |title=The Disaffection of Tammy Bruce |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jun-02-tm-44711-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |access-date=1 March 2025 |date=2 June 2002}}

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.{{cite news |title=Days of Our Lives' star's death ruled suicide |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/520612576/ |access-date=11 January 2025 |work=The Californian |publisher=The Salinas Californian |date=9 April 1982}} She later worked for Gloria Loring and her then-husband, Alan Thicke.{{cite web |last1=Levine |first1=Bettijane |title=Seizing the Day : NOW Leader Tammy Bruce Has Done What O.J. Prosecutors Couldn't: Put Domestic Violence Upfront |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-10-18-ls-58415-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |access-date=1 March 2025 |date=18 October 1995}}

Bruce also worked in electronic publicity, creating video news releases and press kits to distribute to news organizations.{{cite web |last1=Levine |first1=Bettijane |title=Seizing the Day : NOW Leader Tammy Bruce Has Done What O.J. Prosecutors Couldn't: Put Domestic Violence Upfront |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-10-18-ls-58415-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |access-date=1 March 2025 |date=18 October 1995}}

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.{{r|Los Angeles Times 1996}}

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."{{cite web | title=Group Apologizes for LA Leader's Remarks Following Simpson Verdict | website=AP NEWS | date=7 December 1995 | url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927080525/https://apnews.com/article/9cd05831c51771081d7573257404b649 | access-date=27 September 2022}} The NOW Executive Board voted to censure her for what it called these "racially insensitive comments".{{r|OffOurBack_199202|page=5}}{{r|Los Angeles Times 1996}}{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/18/us/outspokenness-on-simpson-case-has-california-talk-show-host-in-acaldron.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/W/Women&pagewanted=all | work=The New York Times | title=Outspokenness on Simpson Case Has California Talk Show Host in aCaldron | first=Kenneth B. | last=Noble | date=December 18, 1995 | access-date=May 24, 2010}} In May 1996, Bruce resigned as president of Los Angeles NOW.{{cite news |last=Gleick |first=Elizabeth |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983921,00.html?promoid=googlep |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071202094927/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983921,00.html?promoid=googlep |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 2, 2007 |title=Fighting Words |date=January 8, 1996 |access-date=April 3, 2007}} 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.{{r|ThoughtPolice}} 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.{{cite news |last=Gillin |first=Beth |url=http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/magazine/daily/13279514.htm |title=Packing heat – and political punch |website=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=November 29, 2005 |access-date=April 3, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051210141146/http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/magazine/daily/13279514.htm |archive-date = December 10, 2005}} 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."{{r|Los Angeles Times 1996}}{{cite web | title=Embattled L.A. NOW President Quits, Forms Organization with Denise Brown | website=AP NEWS | date=7 May 1996 | url=https://apnews.com/article/f120a203b4a91f6d120041299c0695f8 | access-date=27 September 2022}}

In 1997, Bruce hosted an overnight weekend talk show on KFI.{{Citation |last= |first= |title=Amazonian Nights on KFI |date=1997 |work=Los Angeles Radio Guide |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=7 |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Other-Documments/LA-Radio-Guide/LA-Radio-Guide-1997-07.pdf |access-date= |publisher= |last2= |first2= |author-link= }}. Bruce hosted a national radio program on Talk Radio Network throughout much of the 2000s.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

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.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-oct-11-me-transition11-story.html|title=Schwarzenegger Team Focuses on 2 Key Posts|last1=Nicholas|first1=Peter|date=October 11, 2003|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=May 24, 2010|last2=Gold|first2=Matea}}

Bruce has been a Democrat and a liberal activist, but later became a conservative.{{cite news|url=https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/who-is-tammy-bruce-trump-picks-fox-news-contributor-and-ex-democrat-as-us-state-department-spokesperson/ar-AA1wWU2T?apiversion=v2&noservercache=1&domshim=1&renderwebcomponents=1&wcseo=1&batchservertelemetry=1&noservertelemetry=1 |title=Who is Tammy Bruce? Trump picks Fox News Contributor and ex-democrat as US state |website=msn.com |date=January 4, 2025}} 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".

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|date=November 2020}}. 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.prageruniversity.com/Political-Science/Feminism-2-0.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301135403/http://www.prageruniversity.com/Political-Science/Feminism-2-0.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 1, 2014|title=Feminism 2.0|publisher=Prager University|access-date=January 16, 2015}}{{better source needed|date=August 2019}}

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.{{cite news|url=https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2017/05/12/fox-news-contributor-slams-8-year-old-stalker-snowflake-who-needed-safe-space/216437|title=Fox News contributor apologizes for mocking 10-year-old boy with autism as a 'snowflake'|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=January 3, 2018}} She later apologized on air.{{cite web|url=https://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-news-contributor-tammy-bruce-apologizes-for-comments-about-snowflake-10-year-old-boy/|title=Fox News Contributor Tammy Bruce Apologizes for Comments About 'Snowflake' 10-Year-Old Boy|work=Mediaite|access-date=January 3, 2018|date=May 16, 2017}}

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.{{Cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tucker-carlson-gingerbread-men_us_5c1a8ce7e4b0446830f9864d|title=Fox News Contributor Tells Tucker Carlson Gingerbread Cookies Are 'Obviously Men'|last=Moye|first=David|date=December 19, 2018|work=HuffPost|access-date=December 20, 2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-news-tammy-bruce-on-gingerbread-people-obviously-theyre-men|title=Fox News' Tammy Bruce on 'Gingerbread People': 'Obviously, They're Men'|last=McNamara|first=Audrey|date=December 19, 2018|website=The Daily Beast|access-date=December 20, 2018}}{{Cite news | first1 = Kathryn | last1 = Krawczyk | url = https://theweek.com/speedreads/813601/calling-cookies-gingerbread-people-suggests-spiritually-neutering-ourselves-fox-news-tucker-carlson-says | title = Calling cookies gingerbread 'people' suggests we're 'spiritually neutering' ourselves, Fox News' Tucker Carlson says | date = 2018-12-19 | work = The Week | access-date = 2023-02-15 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230216032508/https://theweek.com/speedreads/813601/calling-cookies-gingerbread-people-suggests-spiritually-neutering-ourselves-fox-news-tucker-carlson-says | archive-date = 2023-02-16 | url-status = live | issn = 1533-8304 | oclc = 45905750 | df = dmy-all}}

Bruce is a Fox News contributor.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/fox-news-contributor-claims-media-american-people-punished-electing-trump-1456154|title=Fox News contributor claims media 'think the American people should be punished' for electing Trump|first=Jason|last= Lemon |date=August 26, 2019|website=Newsweek}} In 2019, she became the host of Get Tammy Bruce, which airs on the Fox Nation streaming service.{{Cite web | url = https://deadline.com/2019/05/fox-nation-new-slate-featuring-fox-news-channel-contributors-tyrus-kat-timpf-tammy-bruce-lawrence-jones-1202621489/ | title = Fox Nation Rolls Out New Slate Featuring Tyrus, Kat Timpf, Tammy Bruce, Lawrence Jones | author = | date = 2019-05-23 | website = Deadline Hollywood | access-date = 2023-02-15 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230108183427/https://deadline.com/2019/05/fox-nation-new-slate-featuring-fox-news-channel-contributors-tyrus-kat-timpf-tammy-bruce-lawrence-jones-1202621489/ | archive-date = 2023-01-08 | df = dmy-all }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/media/tammy-bruce-biden-campaign-media-criticism|title=Tammy Bruce: Biden campaign seems to think he cannot be criticized in mainstream media|first=Joshua|last=Nelson|date=October 11, 2019|publisher=Fox News Channel}}

In January 2025, Donald Trump announced that Bruce would be named as Spokesperson for the United States Department of State in his second administration.{{cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/04/trump-tammy-bruce-state-department-00196477|title=Trump picks Fox's Tammy Bruce as State spokesperson |website=politico.com|last=Toosi |first=Nahal |date=January 4, 2025}}

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.{{r|Bruce_TDORAW|pages=2-5}}{{cite news |title=Days of Our Lives' star's death ruled suicide |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/520612576/ |access-date=11 January 2025 |work=The Californian |publisher=The Salinas Californian |date=9 April 1982}} 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.{{Cite web|date=8 April 1982|title=Actress Brenda Benet, who played the often hysterical Lee...|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/04/08/Actress-Brenda-Benet-who-played-the-often-hysterical-Lee/8269387090000/|access-date=2023-04-08|website=UPI}}{{cite news |url=http://www.welovesoaps.net/2009/08/flashback-brenda-benet-commits-suicide.html |title=Actress Brenda Benet kills self, star in soap |author=Staff |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|date=1982-04-09 |access-date=2023-04-08}}{{Cite news|last=|date=1982-04-09|title=Brenda Benet, Actress, Called Suicide Victim|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/09/obituaries/brenda-benet-actress-called-suicide-victim.html|access-date=2023-04-08}}

In a 2005 interview with C-SPAN, Bruce identified herself as a pro-choice lesbian.{{cite web |date=18 November 2005 |title=Book Discussion: The New American Revolution – Video (Timestamp 4:25-4:35) |url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?190403-1/the-american-revolution |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220807171712/https://www.c-span.org/video/?190403-1/the-american-revolution |archive-date=7 August 2022 |access-date=7 August 2022 |work=C-SPAN |type=Video}}

{{refbegin|20em}}

• {{cite book | last1 = Bruce | first1 = Tammy | author-mask1 = 1 | date = 2003-01-28 | title = The New Thought Police: Inside the Left's Assault on Free Speech and Free Minds | url = https://archive.org/details/newthoughtpolice00bruc | url-access = limited | access-date = 2023-02-15 | language = en-us | publisher = Crown Forum | isbn = 978-0761563730 | lccn = 2002153782 | oclc = 46640997 | ol = OL8018751M | via = Internet Archive | df = dmy-all }}
• {{cite book | last1 = Bruce | first1 = Tammy | author-mask1 = 1 | date = 2003-04-22 | title = The Death of Right and Wrong: Exposing the Left's Assault on Our Culture and Values | url = https://archive.org/details/deathofrightwron00bruc | url-access = registration | access-date = 2023-02-15 | language = en-us | publisher = Random House | isbn = 978-0761516637 | lccn = | oclc = 51293804 | ol = OL8017248M | via = Internet Archive | df = dmy-all }}{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9501E2D7173CF932A25756C0A9659C8B63|title=NYT Bestseller May 11, 2003 |access-date=October 30, 2008 | work=The New York Times | date=May 11, 2003}}
• {{cite book | last1 = Bruce | first1 = Tammy | author-mask1 = 1 | date = 2005-11-01 | title = The New American Revolution: Using the Power of the Individual to Save Our Nation from Extremists | url = https://archive.org/details/newamericanrevol00bruc | url-access = registration | access-date = 2023-02-15 | language = en-us | publisher = William Morrow and Company | isbn =978-0060726201 | lccn = 2005044390 | oclc = 61123134 | ol = OL3422638M | via = Internet Archive | df = dmy-all }}
• {{cite book | last1 = Bruce | first1 = Tammy | author-mask1 = 1 | date = 2024 | title = Fear Itself: Exposing the Left's Mind-Killing Agenda | language = en-us | publisher = Broadside Books | isbn = 9780063228528 | lccn = 2024001365 }}

{{refend}}

Bruce made her film debut in the short feature film 2081,{{cite web |title=2081 (2009) |url=https://mubi.com/en/films/-2081/cast |website=MUBI |access-date=12 January 2025}} and appeared in the 2011 documentary The Undefeated.{{cite news |last=Swan |first=Betsy |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/steve-bannons-deep-weird-adoration-of-sarah-palin |title=Steve Bannon's Deep, Weird Adoration of Sarah Palin |work=The Daily Beast |date=2017-04-13 |access-date=2020-04-22 |quote=The Undefeated, a film about Palin featuring Mark Levin, Tammy Bruce, and other conservative pundits. }}

{{reflist|30em|refs=

{{cite news | last1 = Hubler | first1 = Shawn | date = 1996-05-07 | title = Tammy Bruce, Outspoken President of NOW's L.A. Chapter, Resigns | url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-05-07-me-1440-story.html | url-status = live | work = Los Angeles Times | language = en-us | eissn = 2165-1736 | issn = 0458-3035 | oclc = 3638237 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221206071608/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-05-07-me-1440-story.html | archive-date = 2022-12-06 | access-date = 2023-02-15 | df = dmy-all }}

{{cite book | author = | date = February 1996 | title = L.A. NOW president in controversy | work = Off Our Backs | language = en-us | page = 5 | issn = 0030-0071 | jstor = stable/20835379 | lccn = sv86023034 | oclc = 1038241 | df = dmy-all }}

{{cite book | last1 = Bruce | first1 = Tammy | author-mask1 = 1 | date = 2003-01-28 | title = The New Thought Police: Inside the Left's Assault on Free Speech and Free Minds | url = https://archive.org/details/newthoughtpolice00bruc | url-access = limited | access-date = 2023-02-15 | language = en-us | publisher = Crown Forum | isbn = 978-0761563730 | lccn = 2002153782 | oclc = 46640997 | ol = OL8018751M | via = Internet Archive | df = dmy-all }}

{{cite book | last1 = Bruce | first1 = Tammy | author-mask1 = 1 | date = 2003-04-22 | title = The Death of Right and Wrong: Exposing the Left's Assault on Our Culture and Values | url = https://archive.org/details/deathofrightwron00bruc | url-access = registration | access-date = 2023-02-15 | language = en-us | publisher = Random House | isbn = 978-0761516637 | lccn = | oclc = 51293804 | ol = OL8017248M | via = Internet Archive | df = dmy-all }}

}}

• {{official website|https://tammybruce.com/}}
• {{C-SPAN|93429}}
• {{IMDb name|2161935}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruce, Tammy}}

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