This happened during her live MSNBC show on Tuesday.
Rachel Maddow struggled to keep her composure during Tuesday’s live taping of The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC.
The longtime host and journalist broke down in tears while reading a new report from The Associated Press.
“This has just come out from the Associated Press,” a visibly emotional Maddow, 45, said, holding back tears. “This is incredible. Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children [pauses] to at least three tender age shelters in south Texas.”
As she continued trying to read out the story, Maddow realized she wouldn’t be able to finish.
“I think I’m going to have to hand this off. Sorry, that does it for us tonight. We’ll see you again tomorrow,” she said, placing her hand over her mouth. “Now it’s time for The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell where he is live in Brownsville, Texas.”
Following the candid moment, Maddow took to Twitter to apologize to her viewers.
“Ugh, I’m sorry. If nothing else, it is my job to actually be able to speak while I’m on TV. What I was trying to do – when I suddenly couldn’t say/do anything – was read this lede,” she wrote, before quoting the AP’s story. “’Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children forcibly separated from their parents to at least three ‘tender age’ shelters in South Texas. Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the ‘tender age’ shelters described play rooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis. Decades after the national’s child welfare system ended the use of orphanages over concerns about the lasting trauma to children, the administration is standing up new institutions to hold Central American toddlers that the government separated from their parents.’”
Maddow concluded by linking to the original post, adding, “Again, I apologize for losing it there for a moment. Not the way I intended that to go, not by a mile.”
Fans quickly noted that they had never seen the host get so visibly upset on-air before.
Supermodel Chrissy Teigen also retweeted a video of the segment, writing, “John and I have watched this show for a long, long time now. DVR’ed every night. And I’ve never ever seen her cry. ‘Summer camp.’ ‘Womp womp.’ F**K these heartless people.”
In addition to Teigen, many stars, including Ellen DeGeneres, Anne Hathaway and more have spoken out against President Donald Trump’s controversial ‘zero tolerance’ immigration policy, which has resulted in about 2,000 children being separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border during a six-week period in April and May.
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