Hannah Wilson

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Hannah Wilson
Born Hannah Gwyneth Wilson
June 3, 1979 (1979-06-03) (age 44)
Omaha, Nebraska
Alma mater University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Occupation
  • News anchorwoman/correpsondent
  • fashion designer
  • actress
Years active 1996–present
Partner Kendra Ray (2017-present)
Children 2
Relatives Mike Wilson (brother)

Hannah Gwyneth Wilson (born June 3, 1979) is an American television news anchor/correspondent and fashion designer.



Life and career[edit]

1979–1995: Early life[edit]

Wilson was born on June 3, 1979, in Omaha, Nebraska,[1] and raised Roman Catholic in Lincoln, Nebraska.[2] She was named after William Hanna, co-founder of Hanna-Barbera, which became the most successful television animation studio in the business, and her middle name, Gwyneth, was named after English actress Gwyneth Powell.[3] Her father, Dennis Wilson, is British American and worked as a Yamaha marketing executive.[4] Her mother, Blythe (née Stamer),[5] worked as an accountant before becoming a housewife.[4][6] Hannah's parents were fans of Rock n' Roll and broadcast journalism and exposed her to television news by anchors like Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw.[2] She has two older siblings, Mike and Terra, and a younger sister named Erica, and a younger brother Alexander.[2][6] Erica was a long time anchorwoman in Omaha before leaving television news altogether.[1] Mike was also an anchor/reporter in Lincoln before moving to Denver as reporter for then-NBC affiliate KIAA in 1992 and is now in jail.

1996–2005: KWOW 6 Omaha[edit]

Her sister Erica introduced Hannah to television journalism, and in 1996, she invited her to CBS affiliate KWOW-FTV (channel 6), .[1]


2006–2010: WKLN Fox 3 Lincoln[edit]

2010–2015: Return to Omaha[edit]

2016–present: Vote for the Girls USA and WLIN/WWKI[edit]

On March 7, 2016, Wilson made a surprise debut as weekend morning anchor of Lafayette, Indiana Fox affiliate WLIN anchoring the station's Good Day Lafayette: Weekend Edition.[7] On March 25, it was officially confirmed that Wilson would join the ninth season of Vote for the Girls as a moderator, replacing Tracia Matthewson and Hillary Matthewson at the time.[8]

After 20 years since her debut in Omaha, she attended the Nebraska Hall of Fame Ceremony, and during an interview on the red carpet she said, "I didn't know I was gonna have two babies, I didn't know I was gonna be on Vote for the Girls, I didn't know I was gonna come out as a bisexual, so I'm just like, what's gonna be next?".[9]


Personal life[edit]

Soon after Wilson joined KWOW, she and Fox 7 Omaha (KNB-FDT) anchor/reporter Tony Frank began dating, to which she stated that she was heavily invested in the relationship. Wilson commented that "...all I ever did was look at Tony and pray that God would let me have a baby with him."[10] During this time, the band almost split up because of the failed romantic relationship between Wilson and Frank.[11] Tony Frank ended the relationship when he took a job at KWSH in Seattle in 1999.[12]


During mid-2005, Hannah Wilson left KWOW and took a job at the Fox affiliate in nearby Lincoln, Nebraska. Wilson met WKLN-FTV main anchorman Jeff Allenton. Wilson has one son and a daughter with Allenton; Kingston Gabe Allenton born on February 26, 2014,[13] and daughter Olivia Bridget Wilson born on August 21, 2012.


On January 13, 2017, Wilson and her eventual Vote for the Girls co-star, former longtime Des Moines anchorwoman and current CBS 41 Action News weekend morning co-anchor Kendra Ray, announced that they were dating and in a relationship.[14] Wilson stated that her boyfriend Jeff Allenton would only continue with the relationship with her if he agreed to move to Indiana with Wilson—under which her boyfriend would be required to relocate from Nebraska to Indiana.


The deal was part of a long-term relationship agreement was driven by Ray's move from the purple team to the pink team on the American version of Vote for the Girls; Wilson's boyfriend, Jeff Allenton, had been in negotiations to convince Wilson to stay in Nebraska to continue the relationship, but Allenton reportedly balked at Wilson's demands.[14] Kendra Ray, on the other hand (though Ray transitioned from male to female in 2008), took the line that a long-term relationship deal was a partnership. Wilson saw the relationship agreement as "a decision for Hannah's future."[14] This led to Kendra Ray reaching a deal with Hannah Wilson, which Wilson was eager to land since the she is a bisexual woman. This confirmed speculation that Kendra Ray's 29 year marriage to Mollie Ray came to an end[14].

This marked the second time a Vote for the Girls pink team moderator has taken a significant other away from her spouse, the first being Holly Everman when she and San Francisco and Seattle transgender woman Perri Johnson began a relationship. Had Kendra Ray remained on the purple team, Wilson would have been the sixth woman after Denver anchorwoman Kym Alvaraz, Indianapolis radio DJ and talk show host Karly Jameson, Milwaukee anchorwoman Lanise White, Thailand based talk show host Thia Tola, and Miami-based talk show host Nadia Lorenzo moved to from the pink team to the purple team in January 2015, January 2016, October 2015, July 2016 and October 2016, respectively due to three of the five transwomen on the purple team, Ava Zinn, Natasha Gower, and Peta-Alyce Kaizer sold their virginities to Alvaraz, Tola, and Lorenzo in May 2014, June 2016, September 2015, respectively, while Danni McClannahan (then Daniel McClannhan) divorced her husband Leonard Lai and began dating Lanise White shortly before Lai's death in October 2015, prompting McClannahan's move from the red team to the purple team and Karly Jameson (then Karly Ryder, Jr.) eventually married Kathi Jameson in 2015.)[14]



Filmography[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
2014–present Vote for the Girls, Vote for the Girls Herself Judge/Moderator (seasons 8-present) with Kendra Ray

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 ??
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 ??
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  4. 4.0 4.1 ??
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  6. 6.0 6.1 ??
  7. ??
  8. "It's Official: Hannah Wilson Joins 'Vote for the Girls'". Action News Lafayette. March 25, 2016. 
  9. ??
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  11. ??
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  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 Ray, Kendra (2017-01-15). "Kendra Ray says divorce from Mollie and LTR with Hannah Wilson a 'decision for Hannah's future'". Aeverine Zinn Holdings. http://voteforthegirls.us/2017/01/14/kendra-ray-divorce-from-wife-after-29-years-was-a-decision-for-the-future/. 

External links[edit]