Leeann Tweeden

    Leeann Velez Tweeden (born June 13, 1973) is an American model and sports commentator.

    Tweeden was born in Manassas, Virginia, to Bill, a retired Air Force Chief Mechanic, and Catherine. She is half Filipino on her mother's side. After graduating from Osbourn Park High School, in 1991, Tweeden moved to Hollywood to pursue a career in modeling.

    In 1992, while working as a hostess at a Hooters restaurant (she was in their 1994 calendar) in Colorado Springs, Colorado, she won first place in the Venus International Model Search. This break led to national exposure, including a regular role as a fitness model on the TV show Fitness Beach. Tweeden modeled for promotional work for Hooters, Venus International, Frederick's of Hollywood.

    Tweeden was a correspondent for Fox Sports Networks' The Best Damn Sports Show Period from 2001 to 2007. In 2008, Tweeden became the third hostess of the NBC late night television series Poker After Dark. She has also appeared on the political discussion series Hannity in 2011 and 2012. She was a member of the "Great American Panel" and also occasionally appeared on the panel of Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld.

    Tweeden was seen in pre- and post-game coverage of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Fox Sports West and is currently working on Fox Sports 1's UFC Tonight, with Kenny Florian and Ariel Helwani.

    Tweeden is currently on the Los Angeles morning radio show McIntyre in the Morning on KABC, 790 AM from 5 - 10AM as the news anchor. She joined the show on February 7, 2017.

    In 1996, Tweeden appeared non-nude in a fitness model pictorial for Playboy magazine. Fifteen years later, at 38 years old, she appeared again in the December, 2011 issue of Playboy, this time posing in a nude pictorial. In 2002, she was a guest character in the motocross video game Freekstyle as a motocross rider. The March 2007 Issue of FHM (which was the final printed US issue) featured Tweeden as the cover girl. As part of Hooters' 25th anniversary in 2008, she was named among "The Top Hooters Girls of all time".

    Since 2002, Tweeden has gone on at least sixteen tours with the USO including twelve to Afghanistan and Iraq.

    On November 16, 2017, Tweeden asserted that during a USO tour in 2006, now-United States Senator Al Franken forcibly kissed her while rehearsing for a skit and later posed for a photo with his hands either over or on Tweeden’s chest while she was asleep. Franken responded stating "I certainly don’t remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way, but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann....As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn’t. I shouldn’t have done it."

    Tweeden met her husband, Chris Dougherty, a retired Air Force pilot for the California Air National Guard, during a USO tour. They married in 2010. They have two children, son Kane and daughter Kaia.

    She considers herself fiscally conservative and said that she voted twice for President George W. Bush.

    In 2009, she became the public face of the website Rethinking Autism, which uses a series of videos to educate the public about autism.