Roger Ailes' Son In 'Loudest Voice' Reveals Another Side Of The Fox News Exec

The first two episode of The Loudest Voice have followed Roger Ailes as he raised and cultivated Fox News from an idea in Rupert Murdoch's mind into a full-blown cable news powerhouse. However, throughout the limited series, viewers also show how Ailes was as a father. Roger Ailes' son, Zachary Ailes, played by Brady Jenness, is portrayed as a precocious and someone emotionally neglected kid. Although his role in The Loudest Voice is rather minor, Zac has championed his father's legacy in real life.

Zac was just 17 years old when his father died in 2017, but Roger told Zef Chavets, author of the book Roger Ailes: Off Camera, that it was his intention to spend as much time as possible with his son before he passed away. "I never really knew much about my father’s life, what it was really like," Ailes told Chavets in an excerpt from the book published in Vanity Fair. He added, "I’m not going to be here forever and I want Zac to know me." The same excerpt also recounts a time when Ailes went to his son's baseball game to cheer — and jeer — him on. Much like in the Loudest Voice, the excerpt portrays a stern yet concerned and loving father.

If anything, it appears that Ailes and his son Zac did have a close bond. And that the teen is fiercely loyal to his controversial father. Zac celebrated his father by reportedly using Roger's funeral to threaten the many people who "betrayed" his father. According to The Washington Post, the teenager spoke passionately at a luncheon after his father's funeral, referencing the women who had come forward with sexual harassment allegations against the former CEO.

"I want all the people who betrayed my father to know that I’m coming after them and hell is coming with me," Zac said. He added that his father considered all of the people who "hated him" a measure of success.

Zac may be threatening that "hell" is coming with him as he attacks the people who shared allegations against his father, but beyond that his current life trajectory is unclear to the public. He hasn't been in the news much since his infamous remarks at Roger's funeral, which is pretty normal for a teenager. Living in the pubic eye as Roger Ailes' son cannot be easy. Neither him or his mother have commented on the most recent Showtime series that also depicts their home life as a somewhat contentious one.

In addition to the $250,000 left to him in his father's will, according to the Daily Mail, Zac will also be inheriting full control of his father's estate when he turns 36 years old. While Zac won't be turning 36 for a while, that leaves him plenty of time to plan on what to do with Ailes' estate once he inherits it.

After all, Roger didn't start Fox News, his life's most impactful work, until he was 55 years old, so he has time to figure out what he wants to do and just how much he wants to follow in his father's footsteps.