After 15 years of bringing the news to New Yorkers, Tamsen Fadal is ready to make headlines.
At 52 years old, The popular PIX11 presenter leaves the newsroom – embark on a new career as a social media personality.
And while TikTok and Instagram are often considered the domain of tech-savvy young people, Fadal has become a surprise star on both apps, sharing stories about middle age.
The anchor He turned to TikTok for the first time several years ago in the midst of her fight against menopause. Fadal found an unexpected audience among women who were silently fighting a similar battle.
Since then, Fadal has amassed nearly half a million followers on the app, where he now talks about divorce, loneliness, feelings of invisibility, and other issues facing people in their 40s, 50s, and beyond.
By tackling these taboo topics, Fadal is fighting stigmas and breaking barriers, becoming more visible at an age when women are expected to start taking a backseat.
“I started this by just talking, just having conversations,” Fadal, who has won a whopping 13 Emmy Awards, told The Post on Wednesday, saying he never planned to change careers.
“[But I started to realize] This is bigger than I think it is. It’s really a place where I would like to create a platform to have those difficult conversations, those fun conversations, the conversations that we don’t have answers for, because I don’t feel like there’s a roadmap after a certain age. “
Now, encouraged by the support of fans across the country, Fadal, who has also accumulated 1 million followers on Instagramis drawing his own map, leaving PIX11, where he has worked since 2008.
In addition to creating social media content, the intrepid star is starting a podcast, planning speaking engagements across the country, and writing a book about menopause, midlife, and “what it all means.”
Just before the pandemic, Fadal, then in his forties, suffered an “incident” midway through a PIX11 broadcast that became the catalyst for him to begin sharing his personal stories on social media.
“My heart was out of control,” stated the Big Apple station. “We were on a commercial break and two colleagues pulled me off the set and realized something was wrong. “They took me to the bathroom and I got on the floor just to cool my body.”
In addition to heart palpitations, Fadal also suffered a “really intense” hot flash, but “I had no idea what was happening at that moment.”
After consultations with several doctors, the presenter was stunned to learn that she was in the middle of menopause.
“I was like ‘What? What does that mean? ‘I’m too young for menopause!’” she recalled. “[But it] Turns out I wasn’t too young, I just didn’t know any better.”
Fadal “ended up” going to TikTok, making videos about his symptoms and interviewing experts.
Menopause was a long and arduous ordeal for Fadal, who told The Post: “I had tremendous mental confusion, I had trouble reading the teleprompter many nights, [and I suffered] a lack of confidence. “I thought I was going crazy, I thought I was depressed.”
But she found strength in sharing her story.
“I started talking about it and when you start doing it, you hear the other voices and you encourage each other,” he explained. “Now I have found this whole community of women. “I feel like there is a place where we can share experiences so that people don’t feel alone.”
Still, Fadal, who will host his final broadcast with PIX11 on Friday, says it wasn’t an easy decision to leave broadcast journalism.
“Ever since I was young I wanted to be a news anchor in New York City,” she admitted. “It was my dream. “I never thought the people of this city would hug me like this.”
Fadal will also miss his colleagues, particularly meteorologist Irv “Mr. G” Gikofsky, with whom he has been a close friend for years.
“I’ve worked with Mr. G since the first day I went on the air late night,” she gushed. “He is a legend of broadcasting and someone very, very special to me.”
The host also paid tribute to Kaity Tong, who has mentored many women in the New York news business.
“She led the way,” Fadal declared. “When I got the job [broadcasting] In the evening he took me to dinner and cheered me up. I will never forget. For another woman to do that in this industry is incredible.”
Fadal’s own mother died of breast cancer in 1990, at the age of 51.
Now older than her mother, the brunette says she was inspired to make her brave new career change because “tomorrow is not guaranteed.”
Fadal—who married Debmar-Mercury co-chairman Ira Bernstein in 2021 – is also inspired by his father, who is still making new friends and pursuing new hobbies at the age of 83.
And for those in middle age hoping to make a change or start something new, Fadal encourages them to be “bold,” even if it seems a little scary at first.
“I think it’s okay to be afraid too,” he said. “People think that being bold means not being afraid, and that’s not what it is. Being bold simply means being able to take the next step without having everything perfectly aligned.”
But with millions of fans and plenty of content to share, Fadal seems to have things almost perfect as he boldly steps into the future.
“I have had the privilege of telling the stories of New Yorkers and sharing their lives,” he said. “I will always be a journalist and this is another platform to tell stories about things that matter in the second half of life.”
