Kristen Bell Headlines a New Jesus Podcast From Fox…And She Had No Idea About It

Fox News Media recently announced a major expansion of its religious content under the Fox Faith banner, including a new podcast called The Life of Jesus Podcast.

The series will run for 52 episodes and is designed to guide listeners through the life, teachings, and miracles of Jesus Christ.

According to the network’s press release, the podcast is hosted by Fox & Friends star Ainsley Earhardt and features more than 100 notable actors, including Kristen Bell as the voice of Mary Magdalene.

However, Bell was reportedly caught off guard by the news. Her representatives told Rolling Stone that she had recorded the audio for a completely separate project 15 years ago and had no idea Fox Faith was repurposing it for this new podcast.

“She only learned that Fox Faith had acquired the long-forgotten project and was spinning it into a brand-new podcast when her team received a request for her to appear on Fox & Friends a day before the announcement,” her rep said. They added that Bell never gave permission for her old audiobook recordings to be reused.

Bell originally voiced Mary Magdalene in The Truth and Life Dramatized Audio Bible, a New Testament audiobook released in 2010.

A producer from that project later partnered with Gulfstream Studios, which is now licensing the series to Fox Faith. Many of the same celebrity voices listed in Fox’s press release, including Brian Cox, Sean Astin, Neal McDonough, Malcolm McDowell, John Rhys-Davies, and Julia Ormond, were also part of the original audiobook.

Not all actors were aware that their old recordings were being reused. Cox, who voices God in the podcast, previously called Fox News “the devil”.

His representative told Rolling Stone, “Brian recorded audio for a project over a decade ago. He was unaware that the audio would be repurposed for a new podcast series in 2025. Brian only became aware of the podcast today.” Rhys-Davies also confirmed that he only recently learned about the project. Rolling Stone reached out to other stars for comment.

The first episodes of The Life of Jesus Podcast are scheduled to air on November 30. According to Rolling Stone, the podcast uses the original 23-hour audiobook and retools it with new material from Earhardt.

A producer involved reportedly asked at least one celebrity not to mention that the recordings were made years ago, saying they wanted the project to feel more recent.

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