The Complete Transformation Of Fox Sports' Joy Taylor

With a brother in the Professional Football Hall of Fame, it can be hard to stand out alone. Yet that is exactly what Fox Sports' commentator and media personality Joy Allison Taylor has achieved. Like other professionals in the sports field, such as famous sportscaster Maria Taylor and the stunning Charissa Thompson, Taylor has undergone quite the transformation. She went from being best known as a sibling of a professional sports star to being famous in her own right.

Taylor is unafraid to be bold, a quality that has occasionally hindered but ultimately helped her in defining a career as a media personality who is not afraid to speak her mind. Taylor said herself she has always had an opinion about everything. "I have a natural disposition for talking trash," the Fox Sports host told Yahoo Sports in 2021. "I try to be as authentic as possible and I hope people respond to that."

Now with an estimated net worth of $1 million, Taylor has come a long way since her days growing up as one of seven children in Pennsylvania. Born on January 17, 1987, the Pittsburgh native accomplished quite a lot by a young age. There are some tragic details in Taylor's life, but she overcame them and persevered. From playing a college-level sport to expressing her opinions on some of the biggest sports networks, Taylor has helped pave the way for women of color in sports broadcasting.

Hailing from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Joy Taylor bleeds black and gold. The Fox Sports commentator grew up with a love of hometown sports teams from a young age. "People wrap their babies in terrible towels, so you really don't have a choice as to whether you'll be a sports fan. At least a Pittsburgh Steelers fan," she told Yahoo Sports. Pittsburgh was not the only city whose sports teams she watched as a child; Taylor watched NBA Chicago Bull games as well. "I was a huge Michael Jordan fan growing up and still am," the media personality revealed.

While Taylor's oldest brother, Jason Taylor, certainly played a part in her love of sports, the Pittsburgh native originally got her enthusiasm from the women in her family. Taylor's aunts and grandmother were Pittsburgh Pirates, Penguins, and Steelers fans. "It was really great growing up and seeing women who naturally liked sports, not because of their father or brother or something like that," she said in a 2021 interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "If you're from Pittsburgh, you're a sports fan ... It's very much a part of the culture of the city and kind of the fabric that keeps yinzers together." Taylor may have moved to Los Angeles, California, but she will always be a proud yinzer at heart.

Joy Taylor grew up in a busy household with four sisters and two brothers. "Family means everything to me," she told the Huff Post in 2016. "My family is my rock, I love my brothers and sisters, my mom is awesome. They are so supportive of me and we've all been through a lot together, so we all have each other's backs." A love of sports runs in the family, as the Fox Sports commentator's older brother, Jason Taylor, is a former Miami Dolphins defensive end player and NFL legend. Although Joy said she got her love of sports mostly from the women in her family, Jason's passion for football also impacted her life growing up. "Watching Jason [play football] was a huge part of my childhood," Joy said in her interview with Yahoo Sports.

Since her brother was such a popular football star, some people wrongfully attribute Joy's place in the industry to him. "I think a lot of people boil down my existence in this industry to my brother, which I get. The real decision-makers know that's not the case," Joy explained. "People want to discredit anyone's hard work and it doesn't upset me; however, it doesn't do anyone trying to get their start in this business any favors believing that knowing someone automatically means you'll be successful."

Competitive sports games have been a part of Joy Taylor's life. Aside from watching professional Pittsburgh teams compete and being a spectator at her brother, Jason Taylor's, football games, Taylor played multiple sports during her childhood as well. "I also loved competing myself," she told Yahoo Sports.Rather than focusing on just one sport, the television host participated in many different types of games. "Playing a bunch of sports (basketball, soccer, volleyball, track) gave me an excuse to be out of the house," Taylor explained.

While she tried her hand (and feet) at a plethora of sports, she stuck with a few in particular. "I ran track and played basketball for most of my young life," Taylor said in her interview with Huff Post. "I started in fifth grade and also played volleyball and soccer." With such a deep and lasting love of sports, it comes as no surprise that Taylor evolved into one of the most well-known women in sports media.

Joy Taylor continued competing in sports even after she graduated from high school. Taylor attended college a short distance from Pittsburgh in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and she completed her freshman year of college there at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). During the year she spent at IUP, Taylor ran track for the college's team. "I was a recruited division one track athlete, sprinter to be specific, so I ran for a year," Taylor told Huff Post. However, she soon realized that a life as a college athlete was not one she wanted. "Trying to balance sports and being a student was difficult ... And also I wasn't good enough to go to the Olympics, and I wasn't studying sports management, so it was too much for me," Taylor explained.

Although she stopped running track as a college athlete, she did not stop participating in sports entirely. The media personality revealed in the interview that she played soccer recreationally as an adult. That is, until she was eventually forced to quit playing altogether after she tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), a common knee injury among athletes of any level.

Joy Taylor transferred from IUP after one year, moving south for the last three years of her undergraduate studies. Taylor attended Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida, a private Catholic university where she pursued a Bachelor of Arts in broadcast communications. She graduated in 2009, and during her time at Barry, the Fox Sports show host kept busy both in and outside of classes. When she was not studying, she was hosting and managing her college's radio station, WBRY 1640 AM. During her time as a student at the university, the college radio station manager also hosted her own on-air show called "The Noise." Barry was where Taylor got her start in radio, and it is an experience she will likely never forget.

The Barry alumna received scholarship assistance when she was a student there and decided to give back herself after graduating. Taylor started a scholarship program, the "Joy Taylor Communication Scholarship," and is now on the board of trustees at the university. The scholarship program helps financially support students who want to pursue communication majors at Taylor's alma mater. The Fox Sports personality has since returned to Barry University to not only meet a recipient of her scholarship, but to open a new podcast studio on campus as well. She received an honorary doctorate and even spoke at a commencement ceremony in the spring of 2022. 

After working for Barry University's radio station, Joy Taylor made the natural leap to working in radio after graduation as well. For three years, she worked at the station 790 AM The Ticket in Miami, Florida as an executive producer. She then co-hosted a sports radio morning show on the same station called the "Zaslow and Joy Show."

"I always wanted to be a personality," Taylor said of her career path during her 2021 interview with the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. "I loved listening to the radio growing up and hearing the way a really good host would make you feel like you're in the room with them," she said. The format allowed her to foster a sense of connection throughout her life, as well as share her love of sports with listeners. "I think the traditional radio format helped establish a sense of community, especially locally, with media and fans. It becomes a part of your routine," Taylor explained.

Working in radio allowed Joy Taylor to sharpen her on-air hosting skills before she eventually began her career as a major media personality. When her time on the local Miami radio station 790 AM came to an end after three years, she joined a major broadcast network, CBS. Taylor began working in the sports industry in a national role and climbed the career ladder at CBS Sports.

During her time working at CBS Sports, Taylor also hosted "Fantasy Football Today," a popular podcast that informs listeners of fantasy football updates and provides advice on the subject. Taylor further covered the NFL through her work on "Thursday Night Live" as well. From there, she quickly became a fixture in sports media and gained fans who appreciated her candor, bold opinions, and passion for sports broadcasting. After three years at the network, Taylor left for even bigger and better opportunities on the West Coast.

In 2016, Joy Taylor moved to Los Angeles, California and started working for a different broadcasting network, Fox Sports. There, Taylor began to moderate a sports debate show called "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed" in March 2016 with sports commentator Skip Bayless and NFL player Shannon Sharpe. Taylor filled in on various sports shows at CBS and remained a moderator on "Undisputed" until July 2018. Taylor then began working on another show for the network called "SPEAK." Taylor remains a co-host on the weekday sports show on FS1. In 2021, the media personality also got her very own Saturday program, "The Joy Taylor Show," on Fox Sports Radio.

Taylor credits her strong focus for helping her achieve so much in her career and getting her to where she is now. When she started out, she told Huff Post that she had "a lot of goals, a lot of aspiration, and not a lot of focus." She revealed the important advice that ultimately helped her achieve those goals: "Focus is really the biggest thing in helping you become successful." Taylor shared that the key is setting your goals and then placing all of your time and energy into meeting them. "Since I got that piece of advice, I've kept on that path towards those goals, and now I'm in LA on 'Undisputed' on FS1, and I really do believe it's because I had a goal and I didn't get distracted from that," Taylor emphasized.

Seemingly every aspect of Joy Taylor's life seems to involve sports, including her love life. Not only did she move to Los Angeles for work in 2016, but she had another major life event happen in the same year as well: marriage. The Fox Sports host married former professional baseball player Richard Giannotti in 2016. The famous couple reportedly met in 2014, but their whirlwind romance did not last long, with their marriage ending after just one year. While the exact details concerning Taylor's split from her ex-husband Giannotti were never revealed, rumors surrounding Taylor's alleged infidelity continue to circulate. Following the split, she announced in a since deleted Instagram post back in September 2018 that she got engaged to former NBA player and coach Earl Watson. However, Taylor and Watson never ended up getting married and eventually parted ways.

Despite her bold and confident opinions on many topics, Taylor is fairly private when it comes to keeping her personal life under wraps. However, she revealed in 2014 that she was a survivor of domestic abuse in a past relationship. This occurred around the time when former NFL player Ray Rice was charged with physical assault after a video showed him punching his then-fiancée. As the case gained more publicity, Taylor began to contemplate her own past experiences and felt the need to speak up. While she did not elaborate on who exactly her abuser was, her bravery in coming forward and sharing her experience could help countless other domestic abuse survivors. 

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.

In January 2025, Fox Sports anchor Joy Taylor experienced a scandal that sparked legal drama full of alleged affairs. In a 42-page document, a former hairstylist at FS1, Noushin Faraji, made a number of allegations against the network and several employees, including detailed reports of sexual harassment and workplace misconduct.Taylor was mentioned in the legal document, along with her former co-worker, Skip Bayless, and many other employees at Fox Sports. Faraji claimed that Taylor had an affair with the Executive Vice President, Charlie Dixon, in order to get her position on FS1. The hair stylist also alleged that Taylor had an affair with Fox host and Bachelor Nation personality Emmanuel Acho as well.

Faraji went on to say that she told Taylor about the sexual harassment she experienced from Dixon and Bayless, but Taylor allegedly told the hairstylist to "get over it." Both Taylor and Bayless denied the allegations against them, and lawyers for Fox Sports asked for the case to be dismissed.A spokesperson on behalf of Taylor told The Athletic, "The claims set forth against Ms. Taylor are devoid of merit and appear to have been strategically framed to create unwarranted publicity rather than to seek legitimate redress." Taylor was temporarily "sidelined" from FS1's "Speak" in light of the allegations, a source told Front Office Sports in February 2025, but she remains employed at Fox Sports as of the time of this writing.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

Since working her way up at Fox Sports, Joy Taylor literally runs the show — her own show, that is. Taylor co-hosts the weekly afternoon show "SPEAK" on FS1 and also hosts "The Joy Taylor Show" on Saturdays. Despite her latest success, the media personality doesn't take these new opportunities lightly, especially as a Black woman in a male-dominated environment. "It's a big deal for me," she told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. "It's a big deal for women in this business. Women don't always get these opportunities, especially to do it solo. It's great to be trusted to do it by myself."

Taylor knows that women do not often get the chances she has been given, but she is working to change that. "I also want to give the opportunity to younger broadcasters and women in the business who don't often get booked on national shows to come on and give their opinions as well," the Fox Sports personality said in the interview. "That's always important to me when I give opportunities to pay it back. You'll hear more women on my show than others, and that's intentional."

As if working on two different shows were not enough to keep her busy, the Pittsburgh native also has a weekly lifestyle podcast called "Two Personal" that launched in 2024. She co-hosts the lifestyle podcast with journalist Taylor Rooks. "Two Personal" is a departure from Taylor's typical sports talk, but that does not mean she is any less passionate about it.