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E. Jean Carroll

E. Jean Carroll
Carroll smiling and holding an umbrella
Carroll in 2006
Born
Elizabeth Jean Carroll

(1943-12-12) December 12, 1943 (age 81)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
EducationIndiana University, Bloomington (BA)
Occupation(s)Journalist, advice columnist
Employer(s)Elle, 1993–2020
Spouses
Steve Byers
​
(div. 1984)​
​
(div. 1990)​

Elizabeth Jean Carroll (born December 12, 1943) is an American journalist, author, and advice columnist. Her "Ask E. Jean" column appeared in Elle magazine from 1993 through 2019, becoming one of the longest-running advice columns in American publishing.[1]

In her 2019 book, What Do We Need Men For?: A Modest Proposal, Carroll accused Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her in the mid-1990s.[2][3] Her book Not My Type, subtitled One Woman Against a President, debuted at #2 on the New York Times best-seller list on June 28, 2025.[4]

Early life

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Elizabeth Jean Carroll was born on December 12, 1943,[5][6] in Detroit, Michigan.[7] Her father, Thomas F. Carroll Jr., was a furniture store manager, and her mother, Betty (née McKinney) Carroll, was a Republican politician in Allen County, Indiana.[8][9] The oldest of four children, Carroll was raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with two sisters and a brother; as a child, she was called "Betty Jean", "Jeannie" and "Betty".[10] She attended Indiana University. A Pi Beta Phi and a cheerleader, she was crowned Miss Indiana University in 1963, and in 1964, as a representative of the university, she won the Miss Cheerleader USA title.[11] She appeared on To Tell the Truth in 1964.[12][13]

Career

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Column: Ask E. Jean

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Carroll's "Ask E. Jean" column appeared in Elle from 1993 until 2020. Widely read, it was acclaimed for Carroll's opinions on sex, her insistence that women should "never never" structure their lives around men, and her compassion for letter-writers experiencing difficult life situations.[14][15] When it debuted, Amy Gross, a former editor-in-chief of Elle, compared the column to putting Carroll on a "bucking bronco", describing her responses to readers as "the cheers and whoops and hollers of a fearless woman having a good ol' time."[16] Carroll's writing style often incorporates humor.[17][7][18]

Carroll was fired from Elle in February 2020. She wrote on Twitter that she was dismissed "because Trump ridiculed my reputation, laughed at my looks, & dragged me through the mud".[19] Elle maintained that the decision to fire Carroll was a business decision unrelated to Trump.[18]

Television: Ask E. Jean, Saturday Night Live

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Carroll wrote for Saturday Night Live's twelfth season in 1986 and 1987.[7] She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series at the 39th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1987. The Television Academy entry for her nomination mistakenly lists her name as "Jean E. Carroll".[20]

From 1994 through 1996, Carroll was the host and producer of the Ask E. Jean television series that aired on NBC's America's Talking—the predecessor to MSNBC.[21][7] Entertainment Weekly called Carroll "the most entertaining cable talk show host you will never see."[22] Carroll and the show were nominated for a CableACE Award in 1995.[23]

Magazines, books, and anthologies

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In addition to writing for magazines including The Atlantic and Vanity Fair, Carroll served as a contributing editor for Outside,[24][7][25] Esquire,[26][27][28] New York,[29] and Playboy. She was Playboy's first female contributing editor.[7][30]

Carroll was known for her gonzo-style first-person narratives.[31][7] She hiked into the Star Mountains with an Atbalmin tracker and a Telefomin warrior,[32] chronicled the lives of basketball groupies in a story called "Love in the Time of Magic";[27] and went to Indiana to investigate why four white farm kids were thrown out of school for dressing like black artists in "The Return of the White Negro".[28] She moved in with her old boyfriends and their wives;[26] and went on a camping trip with Fran Lebowitz.[31][33] Bill Tonelli, her Esquire and Rolling Stone editor, said in a 1999 interview that all of Carroll's stories were "pretty much the same thing. Which is: 'What is this person like when he or she is in a room with E. Jean?' She's institutionally incapable of being uninteresting."[34]

Carroll's work has been included in non-fiction anthologies such as The Best of Outside: The First 20 Years (Vintage Books, 1998), Out of the Noosphere: Adventure, Sports, Travel, and the Environment (Fireside, 1998) and Sand in My Bra: Funny Women Write from the Road (Traveler's Tales, 2003).[24] Her 2002 story for Spin, "The Cheerleaders" was selected as one of the year's "Best True Crime Reporting" pieces. It appeared in Best American Crime Writing, edited by Otto Penzler, Thomas H. Cook, and Nicholas PileggI, published by Pantheon Books in 2002).[35][36]

In 1993, Carroll's biography of Hunter S. Thompson, Hunter: The Strange and Savage Life of Hunter S. Thompson, was published by Dutton. Her memoir, What Do We Need Men For?: A Modest Proposal was released in June 2019. The title refers to the 1729 satire A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift.[37] In 2019, The New York Times referred to Carroll as "feminism's answer to Hunter S. Thompson."[31] Not My Type, her memoir about the five years that followed her first lawsuit against Trump, was published in June 2025. "A breezy read, packed with revenge, joy and barbed wit", it debuted at #2 on the New York Times best-seller list.[38]

Profiling women who accused Trump of sexual misconduct

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In 2020 and 2021, for The Atlantic, Carroll wrote a series of articles that profiled several of the 25 women that have accused Trump of sexual misconduct.[39][40][41][42][43] Her profile of Jill Harth, who alleged that she had been groped by Trump, appeared in Vanity Fair in January 2021.[44] In October 2021 This American Life featured Carroll in conversation with Jessica Leeds, who also accused Trump of sexual misconduct.[45]

Online

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In 2002, Carroll co-founded greatboyfriends.com with her sister, Cande Carroll. On the site, women recommended single men to each other.[46] In 2005, GreatBoyfriends was acquired by The Knot Inc. In 2004, she launched Catch27.com, a spoof of Facebook. On the site, people put their profiles on trading cards and bought, sold, and traded each other.[47] She launched an online version of her column, askejean.com, in 2007. In 2012 Carroll co-founded Tawkify, "a personal concierge for dating." She also advised Tawkify's matchmaking team.[1]

Sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump

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Main articles: E. Jean Carroll v. Donald J. Trump and Donald Trump sexual misconduct allegations

Carroll sued Trump for defamation and battery in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (originally filed in the New York Supreme Court). On May 9, 2023, a jury found Trump liable for defamation and sexual abuse against Carroll and awarded her $5 million in damages.[48] On July 19, 2023, Judge Kaplan found that Trump did rape her as the term is understood "in common modern parlance",[49] although not “in the narrow, technical meaning of a particular section of the New York Penal Law”.[50] On January 26, 2024, a jury found Trump liable for defamation against Carroll regarding his remarks after the first verdict, and awarded her an additional $83.3 million in damages.[51][52] Trump appealed the verdict and posted a $91.6 million bond.[53]

In an interview that aired on June 30, 2025, Carroll told Pamela Brown on CNN that she planned to give away the money: "The last thing I care about is money. The first thing I care about is people knowing the truth."[54]

Sexual assault allegations against Les Moonves

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See also: Les Moonves § Sexual assault allegations

Carroll was one of 13 women who in 2019 accused CBS Corporation chairman and CEO Les Moonves of sexual assault. She says the incident occurred in the late 1990s in a hotel elevator after interviewing Moonves for a story; he denied the allegation.[55]

Personal life

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Carroll lived in Montana with her first husband before moving to New York City to pursue a career as a journalist.[56] She divorced in 1984.[57] Her second marriage was to John Johnson,[13] an anchorman and artist. Carroll and Johnson divorced in 1990.[21] Carroll lived in upstate New York as of April 2023.[10]

Selected books

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  • 1985: Female Difficulties: Sorority Sisters, Rodeo Queens, Frigid Women, Smut Stars, and Other Modern Girls, Bantam Books, ISBN 978-0-553-05088-2
  • 1993: Hunter: The Strange and Savage Life of Hunter S. Thompson, Dutton, ISBN 978-0-525-93568-1[58]
  • 1996: A Dog in Heat Is a Hot Dog and Other Rules to Live By, a collection of her Ask E. Jean columns, Simon and Schuster, ISBN 978-0-671-56814-6[59]
  • 2004: Mr. Right, Right Now!: How a Smart Woman Can Land Her Dream Man in 6 Weeks, HarperCollins, ISBN 978-0-06-053028-0[60]
  • 2019: What Do We Need Men For?: A Modest Proposal, St. Martin's Press, ISBN 978-1-250-21544-4[61][62]
  • 2025: Not My Type: One Woman vs. a President, St. Martin's Press, 368 pp. ISBN 1250381681 [63]

References

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  1. ^ a b Stone, Madeline (February 4, 2015). "A 72-year-old advice columnist launched a matchmaking service out of Stanford's startup accelerator". Business Insider. Archived from the original on November 10, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  2. ^ Baker, Peter; Vigdor, Neil (June 24, 2019). "'She's Not My Type': Accused Again of Sexual Assault, Trump Resorts to Old Insult". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on September 16, 2021. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  3. ^ Baker, Peter (June 25, 2019). "Trump, accused again of sexual misconduct, insults woman who said he assaulted her". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  4. ^ "Best Sellers - Books - The New York Times". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
  5. ^ Current Biography Yearbook. H. W. Wilson Co. 2008. p. 66. Archived from the original on May 13, 2023. Retrieved May 11, 2023. The writer was born Betty Jean Carroll on December 12, 1943 in Detroit, Michigan, to Tom and Betty (McKinney) Carroll.
  6. ^ McGreal, Chris (May 2, 2023). "Women to testify they can corroborate E Jean Carroll's rape allegation against Trump". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on August 21, 2024. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Jones, Charisse (July 8, 2019). "Beauty queen, journalist, pioneer. The many faces of Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll". USA Today. Archived from the original on October 5, 2020. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  8. ^ "Thomas F. Carroll Jr Obituary". dignitymemorial.com. Archived from the original on November 10, 2021. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  9. ^ E. Jean Carroll (February 1996). A Dog in Heat Is a Hot Dog and Other Rules to Live By. Simon and Schuster. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-671-56814-6. Archived from the original on August 21, 2024. Retrieved April 7, 2021 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ a b Fadulu, Lola (April 25, 2023). "Who Is E. Jean Carroll, the Writer Accusing Donald Trump of Rape?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 21, 2024. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  11. ^ Miller, Holly (October 1996), Indianapolis Monthly, "Zings and Arrows"
  12. ^ "To Tell the Truth Primetime Episode Guide 1956-67". ttttontheweb.com. Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  13. ^ a b Carroll, E. Jean (June 21, 2019). "Donald Trump Assaulted Me, But He's Not Alone on My List of Hideous Men". The Cut. Archived from the original on November 8, 2021. Retrieved June 21, 2019. Donald Trump assaulted me in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room 23 years ago. But he's not alone on the list of awful men in my life.
  14. ^ Bernard, Joan Kelly (March 22, 1994). "Get a Grip and Take Some Sassy but Sane Advice from Elle's E. Jean". Newsday. p. B.13. Archived from the original on January 4, 2024. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  15. ^ Grimes, William (March 30, 1997). "'Dear Abby' Doesn't Live Here Anymore". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 4, 2024. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  16. ^ Rosman, Katherine (November 1999). "Method to Her Madness". Brill's Content. p. 99.
  17. ^ Bernard, Joan Kelly (April 4, 1994). "'Bossy, Miss Bossy' Is No Soft Touch: Advice: Her column has been called a hoot. But E. Jean Carroll is honest and straight to the point. Her formula in letters? 'Just do it!'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  18. ^ a b Rosman, Katherine; Bennett, Jessica (February 21, 2020). "What Happened Between E. Jean Carroll and Elle Magazine? (Published 2020)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 14, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  19. ^ Grady, Constance (February 19, 2020). "E. Jean Carroll says Trump raped her. She's suing him. Now she's been fired from Elle". Vox. Archived from the original on March 16, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  20. ^ "Jean E. Carroll". Television Academy. Archived from the original on March 4, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  21. ^ a b Brum, Robert (July 29, 2019). "E. Jean Carroll, the Nyack years: Donald Trump, Roger Ailes, Reginald McFadden". The Journal News. Archived from the original on July 6, 2022. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  22. ^ Entertainment Weekly, December 30, 1994/January 6, 1995/September 30, 1994.
  23. ^ Margulies, Pau (September 20, 1995). "HBO Leads the Pack With 89 CableACE Nominations: Television: Nods for 'Larry Sanders,' 'Dream On' push network ahead of Showtime, which garners 36". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 10, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  24. ^ a b Best of Outside The First 20 Years by Outside Magazine. Knopf Doubleday Publishing. September 1998. ISBN 978-0-375-70313-3.
  25. ^ Carroll, E. Jean (November 15, 2018). "Miss Jean's Wild Ride". Outside. Archived from the original on February 1, 2023. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  26. ^ a b Carroll, E. Jean (June 1, 1995). "Loves of My Life". Esquire. Archived from the original on February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  27. ^ a b Carroll, E. Jean (April 1992). "Love in the Time of Magic". Esquire. Archived from the original on December 14, 2020. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  28. ^ a b Carroll, E. Jean (June 1994). "The Return of the White Negro". Esquire. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  29. ^ Carroll, E. Jean (August 25, 1997). "My Life as a Man". New York Magazine. Archived from the original on April 25, 2023. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  30. ^ King, Florence (July 16, 1985). "Book World". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved February 2, 2024.
  31. ^ a b c Bennett, Jessica; Twohey, Megan; Alter, Alexandra (June 27, 2019). "Why E. Jean Carroll, 'the Anti-Victim,' Spoke Up About Trump". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved February 2, 2024.
  32. ^ Playboy, Page 88, February 1988.
  33. ^ Why We Camp Archived February 1, 2024, at the Wayback Machine Outside Magazine, July/August 1983
  34. ^ Katherine Rosman, "Method to Her Madness", page 98, Brill's Content, November 1999.
  35. ^ Murray, Noel (November 8, 2002). "Otto Penzler, Thomas H. Cook & Nicholas Pileggi, Editors: Best American Crime Writing". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on February 19, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  36. ^ Miller, Hayley (June 23, 2019). "Sunday Morning Talk Shows Largely Ignore Trump Rape Allegation". HuffPost. Archived from the original on June 24, 2019. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  37. ^ Garber, Megan (July 3, 2019). "You Should Really Read E. Jean Carroll's Memoir". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on January 18, 2021. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  38. ^ Green, Lloyd (June 22, 2025). "Not My Type by E Jean Carroll review – memoir takes a hatchet to Trump". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
  39. ^ Carroll, E. Jean (August 26, 2020). "'I Moved on Her Very Heavily': Part 1". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  40. ^ Carroll, E. Jean (September 2, 2020). "Two Women, Two Breasts, Two Decisions". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  41. ^ Carroll, E. Jean (September 11, 2020). "Donald Trump Is Waiting for You in First Class". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  42. ^ Carroll, E. Jean (September 25, 2020). "And Then Donald Trump Walked Into the RV". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on August 21, 2024. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  43. ^ Carroll, E. Jean (October 2, 2020). "A Taxonomy of Groping: The Below-the-Waist Edition". The Atlantic. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  44. ^ Carroll, E. Jean (January 15, 2021). ""After Me, Baby, You're Gonna Be Ruined for Anyone Else": Donald Trump Refused to Take 'No' From Women—And Then From America Itself". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on January 26, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  45. ^ Glass, Ira (October 23, 2020). "The Unreality of Now". This American Life. Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  46. ^ Bellafante, Ginia (November 24, 2002). "New Year's Eve Is Near. Do You Know Who Your Date Is?; Take My Ex, Please: Preowned, Preapproved". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  47. ^ Shaer, Matthew (February 21, 2006). "You Can't Buy Friends Like These: Well, Actually, Now You Can". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on August 21, 2024. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  48. ^ Hymes, Clare; Kates, Graham; Stevens, Nia (May 9, 2023). "Jury finds Trump liable for battery and defamation in E. Jean Carroll lawsuit trial". CBS News. Archived from the original on May 9, 2023. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  49. ^ Blake, Aaron (July 19, 2023). "Judge clarifies: Yes, Trump was found to have raped E. Jean Carroll". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  50. ^ Shamsian, Jacob (July 19, 2023). "Donald Trump raped E. Jean Carroll even though he was found liable only for 'sexual abuse,' judge rules". Business Insider. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  51. ^ "Trump ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll $83.3M in defamation damages trial". The Washington Post. January 26, 2024. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
  52. ^ Lauren del Valle; Jeremy Herb; Kara Scannell; Dan Berman (January 26, 2024). "Trump trial live updates: Jury says former president must pay $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll". CNN. Archived from the original on January 27, 2024. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
  53. ^ Breuninger, Kevin (March 8, 2024). "Trump posts $91.6 million bond as he appeals E. Jean Carroll defamation verdict". CNBC. Retrieved March 19, 2024.
  54. ^ Brown, Pamela (June 30, 2025). E. Jean Carroll tells why she'll give away $80M+ President Trump was ordered to pay her: 'I want to piss him off' | CNN. Event occurs at 3:58–4:12. Retrieved July 1, 2025 – via edition.cnn.com.
  55. ^ Haynes, Danielle (June 17, 2019). "Journalist E. Jean Carroll accuses Trump, Moonves of sexual assault". United Press International. Archived from the original on October 15, 2021. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  56. ^ Pilkington, Ed (July 13, 2019). "'I accused Donald Trump of sexual assault. Now I sleep with a loaded gun'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on March 5, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  57. ^ Itkowitz, Colby; Reinhard, Beth; Weigel, David (June 22, 2019). "Trump compares himself to Kavanaugh in latest sexual assault allegation". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 27, 2022. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  58. ^ Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher (January 25, 1993). "Review of Hunter: The Strange and Savage Life of Hunter S. Thompson by E. Jean Carroll". The New York Times. p. 16, Section C. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  59. ^ "Review of A Dog in Heat Is a Hot Dog and Other Rules to Live By by E. Jean Carroll". Publishers Weekly. January 29, 1996. Archived from the original on August 21, 2024. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  60. ^ "Review of Mr. Right, Right Now! by E. Jean Carroll". Publishers Weekly. January 1, 2004. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  61. ^ O'Sullivan, Sibbie (June 28, 2019). "Review of What Do We Need Men For?: A Modest Proposal by E. Jean Carroll". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 21, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  62. ^ Bingham, Clara (July 14, 2019). "Review: What Do We Need Men For? E. Jean Carroll on so much more than Trump". The Guardian. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  63. ^ Alter, Alexandra (June 13, 2025). "In a New Book, E. Jean Carroll Chronicles Her Legal Battles With Trump". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 21, 2025.
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