Bill O'Reilly Hires Bodyguards, May Retire

"Now it's so bad that I spend an enormous amount of money protecting myself against evil," declares Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly, who says his enemies have become so vicious that he's mulling retiring from his top-rated TV show.

He has also hired bodyguards to protect himself.

The liberal media establishment is mostly behind the rising tide of hatred because "it can't marginalize me," O'Reilly told Newsday's Verne Gay in a rare interview published Tuesday.

Gay writes: "Almost exactly a year since he settled a sexual harassment lawsuit with former Fox News producer Andrea Mackris, the embattled life of O'Reilly has become an increasingly strange and scary one."

O'Reilly told Newsday that he receives death threats and has to hire bodyguards. He can't check into hotels with his family. People on the street take his picture with their cell phones and then post it on the Web.

"Who wants to live like that?" he complains.

As a result of the lawsuit settlement, O'Reilly must have a third person present whenever he conducts an interview or speaks to someone on the phone.

"Anyone can accuse me of anything and it's on a Web site," he said in the interview.
Gay writes: "So little wonder that when Bill O'Reilly is asked about his future after his current contract ends a little more than two years from now, he blurts out one word even as the question is asked: ‘Retirement.'"

But then O'Reilly backpedaled somewhat: "I might. I might. There's only so much aggression you can absorb."

The 56-year-old TV and radio host recently began writing a book, "Culture Warrior," which he says will be his last.

Once touted as a Senatorial or even a third party presidential candidate, cable news's top talker now rules out a future in politics.

Instead, the road ahead "probably leads out of Fox headquarters and away from the scorching spotlight – forever," according to Newsday.

O'Reilly, who's scheduled to appear on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" Tuesday night, bemoaned the "debilitating" battles he's had with others in the media.

"I don't need the approval of the press, but I just wish they'd stop the viciousness. It's reached a level of almost comical proportions and it does affect people around me and they do get upset.
"There are some very, very bad people out there and we're dealing with those people."

Recalling an interview he did with sportscaster Howard Cosell years ago, O'Reilly added: "He was very, very bitter. I kept saying to myself, ‘I'm not gonna wind up like that. I'm not going to let them get me.'"