Biography of Abby Phillip; Husband, Family, Heritage, Baby, CNN

Abby Phillip Biography

Abigail Daniella Phillip is the host of CNN’s NewsNight with Abby Phillip. She is a former CNN Senior Political Correspondent and host of Inside Politics Sunday with Abby Phillip. She is an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and a board member of the News Literacy Project

Her journalism career began while studying at Harvard where she wrote for the school’s magazine The Crimson. She wanted to become a heart surgeon, but later discovered she hated the lab. Her first experience with journalism was after joining the staff of the Crimson, she went on a school-sponsored public service trip through Tennessee and Mississippi, tracing events of the civil rights movement she really loved the experience.

After graduating, she joined Politico as a White House reporter and blogger covering campaign finance issues and lobbying. She then joined The Washington Post as a general assignment reporter and was then promoted to national political reporter covering the White House. She left in October 2017

Abby later joined ABC News as an ABC News Fellow in New York and then was a digital reporter for the network in Washington, covering politics. She has written and produced stories for ABC News programs including This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Nightline, and ABCNews.com.

In addition to being a journalist, she served as a production consultant for HBO Max series The Girls On The Bus, which focused on women political reporters on a presidential campaign trail.

Abby Phillip Education

Abby attended Bowie High School where she was a violinist in the orchestra and a member of Tri-M Music Honor Society. She then joined Harvard to study pre-med but later switched to Bachelor of Arts in Government.

Abby Phillip Age & Heritage

Abby was born on November 25, 1988 in Alexandria, Virginia to her Trinidandian parents. She is of Trinidad and Tobago heritage. Her parents moved to D.C. so that her father could attend Howard University. They returned to Trinidad for a few years before moving back to Germantown, Maryland when Abby was in third grade. They later settled in Bowie.

Abby Phillip Family

Abby is the daughter of June C. Phillip and Carlos W. Phillip of Bowie, Md. Her father, Carlos is a school psychology manager and educator specializing in clinical supervision and developmental disabilities. Her mother is a Realtor and real estate investor with Fairfax Realty. She was brought up alongside her five siblings.

Abby Phillip Husband

Abby married her husband Marcus Glenn Richardson on May 26, 2018 at the Anderson House, a historic home and museum in Washington. Marcus is a cyber security professional working as the principal cloud security architect at Cloud Security Partners. He is also the founder and principal of Oak Keep consulting.

The couple first interaction was back in 2011 at a party hosted by mutual friends on a rooftop in Washington D.C.’s Chinatown neighborhood. Neither of them knew many people at the party and they ended up engaging in a conversation talking about their their love of languages, music, travel, and food. They were interruoted by a woman and didn’t exchange their contacts. Marcus thought the woman was Abby’s friend and was trying to save her from the situation but it turned out Abby didn’t even know her.

Fate brought them back together as a month later, the same friend threw another party and they both attended and a week later they began dating. In 2016, after moving to a new apartment Marcus proposed as they were hosting their families for Christmas.

Abby Phillip Baby

Abby gave birth to her daughter Naomi Angelina Richardson on August 16, 2021. Her first name ‘Naomi’ means ‘pleasant one’ while her middle name ‘Angelina’ is a tribute to Abby’s maternal grandmother who passed away in 2014.

Abby Phillip CNN

Phillip is the host of CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip and a former CNN’s senior political correspondent and host of “Inside Politics Sunday”. She joined the network in 2017 as a White House Correspondent.

In January 2021, she replaced John King as the anchor of the weekend edition of Inside Politics on the Sunday morning version of the political talk show. In August 2023, she began anchoring CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip ending her tenure as CNN’s Senior Political Correspondent.

Career Highlights

She hosted CNN Special Report documentary Kamala Harris: Making History in January 2021, which focused on the Vice President’s groundbreaking career and the childhood experiences that helped shape her modern approach to politics.
In January 2020 at the age of 31, she co-moderated the seventh Democratic presidential debate in Iowa.
She anchored special coverage of the 2020 Presidential Election Night in America, which lasted several days.

Awards and Recognition

In January 2025, her show NewsNight with Abby Phillip was nominated for TWO NAACP Image awards; Outstanding Host in a Talk or News/Information program and Outstanding News/Information program.
In 2024, she won a National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) Vision Awards for the documentary “Homebirth Journey: Saving Black Mom.”
In 2021, she was named the Time 100 Next list and was also awarded the National Urban League’s Women of Power award.

Controversies

In January 2020, while moderating a debate between the Democratic presidential candidates she asked Senator Bernie Sanders to address a CNN report that claimed he told Senator Elizabeth Warren that he did not believe a woman could win the presidency. Bernie said he never said that and instead of Abby dropping the matter she turned to Elizabeth Warren asking, “What did you think when Senator Sanders told you a woman could not win the election?”

Many commentators felt that she should just dropped it after Bernie’s denial but to her defense she said, “If we reported something about Donald Trump, confirmed by multiple sources we would stand by that reporting. I don’t think it’s any different when it’s Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. I think about this a lot. Democrats, in particular, will have to figure this out. If Democrats will believe reporting from us about Donald Trump, they should believe our reporting about Bernie Sanders.”

Abby Phillip Ratings

According to CNN’s press room , Abby’s show NewsNight with Abby Phillip (10p), was ranked as CNN’s most watched program among P25-54 for the third consecutive month in April 2025. It also grew by double-digit margins year-over-year among both demos (P25-54: +31%, 103k to 135k; P2+: +12% 510k to 573k).

FAQ’s

How Old is Abby Phillip; 36 years old

Abby Phillip Parents Nationality; Trinidad and Tobago

Is Abby Phillip Hair Real; Yes

Abby Phillip Salary; $300,000 annually.

Abby Phillip Panel Members; Panel members vary but consists of political analysts, commentators and fellow journalists.

Abby Phillip Biography

Abby Phillip is the anchor of CNN’s NewsNight with Abby Phillip. She is a former CNN senior political correspondent and host of Inside Politics Sunday with Abby Phillip, from 8-9 a.m. ET on Sundays. Prior to joining CNN she worked as a national political reporter for The Washington Post.

Abby Phillip Age

She was born on November 25, 1988 in Bowie, Maryland, United States.

Abby Phillip Height

She stands at a height of 5 feet 7 inches tall.

Abby Phillip Nationality

Abby is an American national.

Abby Phillip Ethnicity

She belongs to Afro-Trinidadian descent.

Abby Phillip Education

Abby holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from Harvard University. While at the university she wrote for The Harvard Crimson.

Abby Phillip Parents

Abby was born to Trinidadian parents June C. Phillip and Carlos W. Phillip who are originally from Sangre Grande. They migrated to the US in 1985 and returned to Trinidad and Tobago in 1988 when Abby was a few months old.

Her father, Carlos, is a psychology program manager for the District of Columbia Public Schools in Washington, while her mother is a Realtor and real estate investor with Fairfax Realty.

Abby Phillip Husband

Abby is the wife to Marcus Glenn Richardson who she married on May 26, 2018 after dating for seven years.

The duo met at a party hosted by mutual friends on a rooftop in Washington D.C.’s Chinatown neighborhood in 2011. Neither of them knew many people there so they ended up chatting, speaking about their love of languages, music, travel, and food. They never exchanged contact information as they were interrupted by another woman. At the time Marcus, thought it was Abby’s friend who was trying to save her from the situation but it turned out that she didn’t even know the woman.

A month later, the same friend threw another party and they both attended and a week later began dating. In 2016, they moved to a new apartment and while hosting their families for Christmas Marcus proposed. They got married at an intimate wedding on May 26, 2018.

Who Is Abby Phillip’s Husband

Marcus Glenn Richardson, a cybersecurity consultant. He is the founder and principal Oak Keep Consulting, a firm which offers application and cloud security services. He formerly worked at nVisium, an IT services and consulting company specializing in web and mobile app security, as a senior application security consultant and later as a managing consultant.

He is the son of Russel G. Richardson and Toussaint Richardson. His father was a soldier who served in the United States Air Force. He holds a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from Florida State University.

Abby Phillip Baby

Abby has a daughter named Naomi Angelina Richardson born on August 16, 2021. Her first name means ‘pleasant one’ while her middle name is a tribute to Abby’s maternal grandmother who passed away in 2014.

Abby Phillip CNN

Abby is CNN’s senior political correspondent and anchor of Inside Politics Sunday, an hour-long in-depth conversation on the week’s most important political storylines, with a diverse set of analysts and news-making interviews. She joined the network in 2017 as a White House Correspondent through 2019.

In January 2020, she moderated CNN’s Democratic Presidential Debate in Iowa. She received a lot of backlash for raising the issue about Sen. Bernie Sanders reportedly telling Sen. Elizabeth warren that a woman can’t win the US presidential election during their meeting in December 2018.

She also anchored special coverage of Election Night in America surrounding the 2020 election, which lasted several days until CNN was the first news outlet to project Joe Biden as the winner. In January 2021, she anchored the CNN Special Report: Kamala Harris: Making History about the Vice President’s barrier-breaking career and the childhood experiences that helped shape her.

Abby Phillip The Washington Post

Abby joined The Washington Post in 2014 as a writer but was later promoted to the position of a general assignment reporter. She covered domestic and international news including the tragic Charleston, S.C. and San Bernardino massacres.

She later became a national political reporter, covering the White House. She wrote on a wide range of subjects related to the Trump White House, including efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, the president’s overseas trip to Poland and Germany for his first G-20.

She began her career in journalism as an intern at ABC7 News. She later joined POLITICO where she served as a political reporter for the White House. She covered the Obama White House for POLITICO as well as campaign finance and lobbying. In 2012 she joined WJLA-ABC7 News until 2014 when she joined The Washington Post.

Abby Phillip Salary

She earns a base annual salary of around $200,000.

Abby Phillip Net Worth

She has an estimated net worth of $1 million.