Leland Vittert is opening up about his experiences with autism in his new memoir, Born Lucky: A Dedicated Father, A Grateful Son, and My Journey with Autism, which is out today, Tuesday, September 30.
According to People, the book describes how the NewsNation anchor was born with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and knotted twice. Nicknamed “Lucky” by the doctor for surviving the birth, Vittert showed signs of autism from a young age, including not speaking until he was three, avoiding eye contact, and struggling with social cues.
He was routinely bullied in middle and high school, facing abuse from both fellow students and teachers. In the book, per People, Vittert recalls how a principal once told his parents, Mark and Carol, “the people here think Lucky is really pretty weird… I guess I do too.”
However, with the help of his family, especially his father, Vittert learned how to thrive. “As a little kid, I didn’t have any kid friends because I was so repellent to kids,” Vittert writes. “So talking to my dad about politics became my only outlet.”
The former Fox News reporter reveals how his parents never told him about his diagnosis until college. Instead, he says his father taught him ways to cope, including doing 200 push-ups a day to ward off bullies and signalling him with a “watch tap” when Vittert had been talking too long or interrupted someone without realizing it.
“It was almost like a coach and a player. We would watch game film,” Vittert writes, per People, describing how he and his dad would go over the interactions later. “We would go back through social interactions.”
Vittert went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and completed a one-year study abroad program at the London School of Economics before embarking on a career in news journalism.
He joined Fox News in 2010, first as a foreign correspondent based in Jerusalem and later as a news reporter. He also served as a substitute host on Fox & Friends, America’s Newsroom, and Happening Now. He left Fox News in 2021 and joined NewsNation as a national correspondent and anchor, where he hosts the primetime show On Balance with Leland Vittert.
Speaking to People, Vittert’s father said he is grateful for his son’s appreciation, but added he did what any loving father would do.
“We tried our best at that time,” he told the outlet. “We weren’t in the least reading books about this or that. It was just trying to deal with him. We just kept at it. I don’t think we changed the way we acted from the very beginning till now.”