Jillian Barberie


Jillian Marie Barberie is a Canadian-born American television hostess, sportscaster, radio personality and actress. From 1995 to 2012, she was a co-host on the popular Los Angeles television morning news and entertainment program Good Day L.A. on Fox owned-and-operated station KTTV. Concurrently, from 2000 to 2005, she appeared on Fox Sports as the weather host for Fox NFL Sunday. From 2006 to 2013, she was known as Jillian Reynolds from her second marriage.

Early life

Barberie was born Jillian Warry in Burlington, Ontario after being adopted soon after her birth. Later in life after finding her biological parents she learned she was born to a native Irish mother and native Lithuanian father who had both immigrated to Canada, and later went on to marry and raise her two sisters. She went to Assumption Catholic Secondary School and then went on to graduate from Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario, with a diploma from its two-year program in broadcast journalism. After completing her diploma, she worked for several other television stations, including The Weather Network in Montreal, Quebec, WSVN in Miami and KTTV in Los Angeles.

Career

Barberie's screen presence has earned her roles on several television series including Clueless, V.I.P., and Melrose Place, as well as several comedies in the CBS comedy series Yes, Dear and the Fox sketch comedy series MADtv. She hosted the syndicated reality series EX-treme Dating. In 2000, she was hired to present the national weather segment of Fox Sports Fox NFL Sunday pre-game show, working alongside James Brown, Howie Long, and Terry Bradshaw. As a result of her scratchy gravel-laced voice and affable "one of the guys" on-camera personality, she became a national figure and earned significant fan interest in the male-dominated sports demographic, and several spots for Prestone antifreeze that aired during NFL game broadcasts.
In addition to Barberie's work on Good Day L.A., she worked on the national version of the show Good Day Live. However, she was ultimately fired from that show, ending her tenure on June 4, 2004.
She served as the weather girl and entertainment reporter for Fox Sports during the 2002 Super Bowl, the 2005 Super Bowl, and the 2008 Super Bowl. In 2005, she was Regis Philbin's co-host for his New Year's Eve special on Fox. She has appeared on the cover of Maxim magazine twice. In 2006, she participated as a contestant on the Fox reality television series Skating with Celebrities, partnered with professional skater John Zimmerman and came in second place. She was an ice skater in her childhood. Beginning in November 2006, she became the co-host of KTTV's That's So Hollywood with fellow KTTV/KCOP-TV personality, Mark Thompson.
In August 2008, Barberie began appearing in a series of NutriSystem commercials alongside former NFL players Dan Marino and Mike Golic; in the ad, she claims that she have lost over 40 pounds after the birth of her daughter.
In March 2009, Barberie was also the host of American Idol Extra on Fox Reality Channel. She interviews the eliminated Idol that week and other guests who appear on the show. She has appeared alongside her then-husband, Grant Reynolds, in the Fox Reality Channel original series, Househusbands of Hollywood.
Beginning in February 2014, she co-hosted Midday Live with John Phillips on 790 KABC in Los Angeles, airing from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm. Through the next six years the show moved from noon to the 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm timeslot, and finally mornings after the retirement of Doug McIntyre. In December 2019 KABC moved John Phillips back to middays but did not renew Barberie's contract.
She has also hosted the entertainment program Hollywood Mix on KTLA.

Personal life

Barberie works for the prevention of cruelty to animals and has nine pets of her own—all of whom she has adopted from shelters. She has said that she believes her "adoptive" nature is due to the fact that she herself was adopted.
Barberie was married to former Major League Baseball player Bret Barberie from 1996 to 2002.
In her backyard, she married former Marine sniper turned actor Grant Reynolds in a private ceremony on July 8, 2006. She initially stated that she was legally changing her name to Jillian Reynolds, but keeping Barberie as her professional surname. Since then, she has chosen to use Reynolds as her surname on Fox NFL Sunday while continuing to use Barberie in the NutriSystem commercials—until April 2009, when she began using Reynolds in those ads.
In December 2006, People magazine said Reynolds was pregnant with her first child, due July 7. She officially announced her pregnancy the morning of December 18, 2006, during the broadcast of Good Day L.A. Barberie took three-month maternity leave from the show beginning June 22, 2007. On July 9, an announcement on Good Day L.A. stated that she had given birth to a girl, Ruby Raven Reynolds, on July 6, 2007. The baby weighed 6 lbs. 12 oz. On July 6, 2009, she announced on Good Day LA that she was pregnant with her second child. She gave birth to a boy, Rocco Rio Reynolds on January 11, 2010. The newborn weighed 7 lbs., 8oz. and was 20½ inches long.
In 2011, Barberie became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
On March 15, 2013, Barberie announced that she and her husband Grant Reynolds were divorcing. The divorce was finalized on February 14, 2014.
In November 2018, Barberie announced that she has breast cancer which had spread to her lymph node. She received a double mastectomy within two weeks of the diagnosis.