Gretchen Carlson comes from a middle-class family in Coon Rapids, Anoka County, Minnesota.
The journalist was the fourth child of her parents. She is the daughter of Karen Barbara and Lee Roy Carlson. Her father graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in business and started his automobile dealership named Main Motor Sales.
Her grandfather was a minister and is of Swedish descent through both parents.
In 1997, Carlson married Casey Close, a sports agent and a former baseball player. The couple has raised two children and lives in Greenwich, Connecticut.
