Merri Kelly Hannity is the 24-year-old daughter of Fox News powerhouse Sean Hannity and former journalist Jill Rhodes. She built an impressive tennis career while staying almost entirely under the radar.
While her father talks to millions of viewers every night, Merri Kelly quietly racked up county championships, state rankings, and Big Ten academic honours. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 2024 with a degree in Communication and Media.
Merri Kelly Hannity Biography
Merri Kelly was born on August 29, 2001, and grew up in a household that valued both achievement and privacy. Her parents, Sean Hannity and Jill Rhodes, met back in 1991 in Huntsville, Alabama. Sean was working at WVNN radio while Jill wrote political columns for the Huntsville Times. They married in 1993 and welcomed their first child, Sean Patrick, on November 3, 1998. Merri Kelly arrived three years later, completing their family.
The Hannity household wasn’t your typical celebrity family setup. Neither parent had a serious sports background, though Sean would later take up martial arts and earn a brown belt. Yet both kids gravitated toward tennis, creating a unique family activity that would see their parents travelling across states to watch tournaments. Growing up on Long Island, Merri Kelly attended Cold Spring Harbour High School, the same place her older brother went before heading to college.
Her father’s career was skyrocketing during her childhood. Sean Hannity’s Fox News show drew millions of viewers nightly, making him one of the most influential voices in conservative media. But despite the fame and the estimated $250-300 million family fortune, the Hannitys worked hard to give their kids everyday lives. Sean’s been pretty clear about this philosophy: he wanted his children to be themselves, not just “Sean Hannity’s kids.”
Merri Kelly Hannity’s Tennis Career
Merri Kelly announced herself as a serious tennis talent at just 14. In October 2016, as a ninth-grader, she won the Nassau County Singles Championship. The final match against her best friend and senior Courtney Kowalsky showed what she was made of. She dominated the first set 6-3, then completely lost the second set 1-6. Most teenagers would’ve crumbled under that pressure, especially playing their best friend. Not Merri Kelly. She fought back to win the deciding set 6-4.
Her coach, Melissa McLees, couldn’t believe what she was watching. Here was a freshman facing not just an older competitor but her closest friend, and she had the mental toughness to push through a terrible second set. That victory punched her ticket to the New York State Championships and put everyone on notice.
Then she did something unexpected. Merri Kelly took a two-year break from high school competition to focus on training and academics. Then, she returned for her senior year in 2019.
Her 2019 senior season was absolutely stellar. Merri Kelly captured her second Nassau County Singles Championship and swept both Nassau and Suffolk County titles. She finished third at the New York State Championships, which earned her some serious rankings. She was rated the No. 4 tennis player in New York State and climbed to No. 41 nationally in her recruiting class.
Those numbers made her a five-star recruit, and the University of Michigan came calling. The Wolverines secured her commitment as part of their No. 6-ranked recruiting class nationwide.
At Michigan, Merri Kelly earned Academic All-Big Ten honours and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar status, which requires maintaining at least a 3.7 GPA. Let’s be real: keeping grades that high while competing in Division I tennis in the Big Ten Conference is impressive.
Through her junior year in the 2022-23 season, she compiled a 23-11 singles record and 28-21 doubles record. She typically competed at No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles for the Wolverines. Her junior year was her strongest, with a 12-5 singles record that included going 2-0 against Big Ten opponents Iowa and Michigan State.
In May 2023, she recorded her first postseason singles victory with a dominant performance. She absolutely demolished her opponent from Youngstown State 6-0, 6-1. It was the kind of statement win that showed she belonged on that stage. All while majoring in Communication and Media and maintaining those stellar grades.
The dual commitment to athletics and academics reflects the work ethic her family always emphasised. Sean Hannity frequently mentions his “100 per cent effort and attitude” philosophy, and Merri Kelly clearly took it to heart.
Merri Kelly Hannity’s Personal Life
While Merri Kelly was building her tennis career, her parents’ marriage was quietly ending. Sean and Jill had been together since the early ’90s, but by around 2016, they’d separated. They finalised their divorce in 2019 but didn’t announce it to the public until June 2020.
Sources told the Daily Mail you wouldn’t even know they were divorced if you saw them together. They still attended family dinners and sat side by side at their kids’ tennis tournaments. Jill’s brother kept working on Sean’s TV show. There was no drama, no tabloid nastiness, just two people who’d grown apart handling it maturely.
Jill reportedly clarified in September 2025 that the divorce wasn’t because of any scandal. Sometimes people grow apart at different stages of life, and that’s what happened to them. They prioritised their children throughout the process, which explains why both Merri Kelly and her brother turned out to be so well-adjusted.
Sean’s moved on with Fox News colleague Ainsley Earhardt. They kept their relationship private for years before he proposed at their Florida church on Christmas Day 2024. President Trump even congratulated them publicly, calling it a “deal made in HEAVEN!!!” Sean’s now permanently based in Florida and continues hosting his primetime show, now in his 29th year at Fox News.
Merri Kelly’s older brother Sean Patrick blazed the college tennis trail before her. He’s four years older, which meant she could watch his career and learn from it. Patrick attended Cold Spring Harbour High School before enrolling at Wake Forest University as a mid-year freshman in January 2017.
His competitive record was more modest than his sister’s. He notched five singles wins and eight doubles wins over four years. But he got to experience something incredible: Wake Forest’s men’s tennis team won the 2018 NCAA National Championship. The victory even earned the team a White House visit, reportedly arranged through his father’s connection with President Trump.
Like his sister, Patrick has maintained extreme privacy since graduating. Now 26, he has no public social media presence and hasn’t disclosed what he’s doing with his life. The Hannity kids clearly learned the value of keeping their personal lives personal, even though they could easily trade on their father’s fame if they wanted to.