Former Fox News personality alleges then-host Ed Henry violently raped her and asked her to be his 'sex slave' in lawsuit filed against the network

• Former Fox News personality Jennifer Eckhart alleged she was sexually assaulted by former Fox host Ed Henry in a new lawsuit filed against the network that accuses several male hosts of sexual misconduct.
• Eckhart alleged in the complaint that Henry "psychologically manipulated and coerced" her into a sexual relationship and violently raped her.
• The suit alleges that Fox News learned about Eckhart's claims as early as 2017 and refused to discipline Henry.
• In the same complaint, former Fox personality Cathy Areu alleged she was sexually harassed by Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Howard Kurtz, and Gianno Caldwell — all prominent Fox hosts.

Former Fox News personality Jennifer Eckhart alleged she was sexually assaulted by former Fox host Ed Henry in a new lawsuit filed against Fox that accuses several male hosts of sexual misconduct.

Eckhart alleged in the complaint, which was filed Monday, that Henry "psychologically manipulated and coerced" her into a sexual relationship and violently raped her. Henry was fired from Fox earlier this month over a sexual-misconduct complaint, which Eckhart said involved her allegations.

"Mr. Henry not only leveraged this imbalance of power for control over his victim, Ms. Eckhart, but asked her to be his 'sex slave' and his 'little w----,' and threatened punishment and retaliation if Ms. Eckhart did not comply with his sexual demands," the suit alleges.

Eckhart, a former associate producer for Fox Business, also accused Henry of taking sexually explicit photos of her against her will.

The suit says Fox News learned about Eckhart's allegations as early as 2017 and refused to discipline Henry. She said the network "intentionally downplayed" her then anonymous allegations against Henry when executives terminated him and informed staff in an internal memo.

In the same complaint, former Fox personality Cathy Areu alleged she was sexually harassed by Henry, along with Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Howard Kurtz, and Gianno Caldwell — all prominent Fox hosts.

Areu alleged that Henry sent her "a slew of wildly inappropriate sexual images and messages."

She said Tucker Carlson, a primetime opinion host, suggested they have a sexual relationship after she appeared on his show in December 2018. After Areu rejected Carlson's advances, she said she was brought onto his popular program much less frequently.

A Fox spokesperson rejected all of Areu's allegations against Fox and every host besides Henry, calling them "false, patently frivolous and utterly devoid of any merit." The network added in a statement to Business Insider that both Areu and Eckhart should take up their claims directly with Henry, rather than suing the network.

"Based on the findings of a comprehensive independent investigation conducted by an outside law firm, including interviews with numerous eyewitnesses, we have determined that all of Cathy Areu's claims against FOX News, including its management as well as its hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity & Howard Kurtz and its contributor Gianno Caldwell, are false, patently frivolous and utterly devoid of any merit," the statement said.

It added, "We take all claims of harassment, misconduct and retaliation seriously, promptly investigating them and taking immediate action as needed — in this case, the appropriate action based on our investigation is to defend vigorously against these baseless allegations. Ms. Areu and Jennifer Eckhart can pursue their claims against Ed Henry directly with him, as FOX News already took swift action as soon as it learned of Ms. Eckhart's claims on June 25 and Mr. Henry is no longer employed by the network."

Michael Willemin, an attorney for Eckhart and Areu, told Business Insider that Fox "moved three years too slowly" in disciplining Henry, who faced multiple other allegations of sexual misconduct in 2017.

"Fox News was aware of complaints against Mr. Henry involving sexually inappropriate conduct before he raped Ms. Henry and sent graphic and sexually explicit photographs, videos and texts to Ms. Areu," Willemin said in a statement. "It is outrageous and contrary to common sense that Fox News purports not to take responsibility for his actions. Ultimately, we are confident that a jury will hold Fox News responsible for the acts of its employees, as well as its own conduct in responding to these allegations."