On Wednesday, Fox News Media announced in a splashy rollout that its religious vertical, Fox Faith, was expanding.
As part of a new tentpole project, the network is launching The Life of Jesus Podcast, a 52-episode series that will guide listeners “through the life, teachings, and miracles of Jesus Christ.” Hosted by Fox & Friends star Ainsley Earhardt, the press release boasted that more than 100 notable actors were signed on, including megastar Kristen Bell as the voice of Mary Magdalene.
But that was news to Bell, who was blindsided by the announcement as she had recorded the audio for a separate project 15 years ago. Her rep tells Rolling Stone that she only learned that Fox Faith had acquired the long-forgotten project and was spinning it into a brand-new podcast when her team received a request for her to appear on Fox & Friends a day before the announcement was blasted out. The rep adds that Bell never gave permission for the old audiobook to be repurposed into a new podcast series.
Originally, Bell voiced Mary Magdalene for The Truth and Life Dramatized Audio Bible, a New Testament audiobook released in 2010. A producer tied to the Bible audiobook has since partnered with Gulfstream Studios, which is licensing The Life of Jesus Podcast to Fox Faith, according to publicly available information. What’s more, the audio Bible includes the same celebrity names that are now being touted in Fox’s press release, including Brian Cox, Sean Astin, Neal McDonough, Malcolm McDowell, John Rhys-Davies, and Julia Ormond.
Reps for Cox, McDowell and Rhys-Davies all confirm to Rolling Stone they were similarly shocked by the news, some only learning of the podcast when the news began circulating on Thursday. “Brian recorded audio for a project over a decade ago,” a rep for Cox told Rolling Stone in a statement. “He was unaware that the audio would be repurposed for a new podcast series in 2025. Brian only became aware of the podcast today.”
A spokesperson for McDowell adds, “we found out about it when everyone else did. We were never consulted, nothing was renegotiated, and we would not have approved.” A rep for Rhys-Davies similarly says the actor only learned of the “repurposed” project earlier this week.
The network seems to have taken the 15-year-old, 23-hour audiobook and retooled it into a multipart podcast series, with the new additions coming from Earhardt. In a note obtained by Rolling Stone, a producer associated with the podcast has asked at least one celebrity star to “not mention that this audio New Testament Bible was produced years ago, we’d like it to feel like something that was produced more recently.”
While some of the actors have been open about their Christian faith, Cox, who is voicing the role of God, has previously called Fox News “the devil.” (Rolling Stone has reached out to the other stars involved for further comment.)
When asked about the original source of the recordings for the podcast, a Fox News spokesperson tells Rolling Stone in a statement that “Gulfstream Studios produced The Life of Jesus Podcast from The Truth and Life Dramatized Audio Bible, which was licensed by FOX News Audio, with full cooperation and participation by all the actors involved.”
The first batch of episodes for The Life of Jesus Podcast will air on Nov. 30.
This article was updated on Nov. 21 at 1:35 p.m. ET to include a statement from Malcolm McDowell, and on Nov. 20 at 9:13 p.m. ET to include a statement from a representative for Brian Cox.
