Fox News' Harris Faulkner Teases 'Most Personal' Project to Date as She Hits Career Milestone (Exclusive)

After nearly two decades with Fox News, Harris Faulkner is riding high as the host of two top-rated daytime television programs, Outnumbered and The Faulkner Focus. The best-selling author and Emmy-winning newscaster celebrated 10 years of hosting Outnumbered in April, but she refuses to slip into autopilot.

In recent weeks Faulkner, 58, released the new true-crime docuseries Surviving a Serial Killer on Fox Nation, and on Thursday, May 16, she premiered her "most personal" project yet: a limited Fox Nation series called Footsteps of My Father, which sees her traverse the globe to better understand what her late father experienced more than a half-century ago as an Army combat pilot in the Vietnam War.

In a moment that is equal parts exciting and emotional, PEOPLE caught up with Faulkner to hear about her Outnumbered milestone, foray back into true-crime, and connection with her dad — and to get an update on how she's preparing her teenage daughters for adulthood. Below, our conversation.

You have co-hosted Fox News’ daytime talk show Outnumbered since it launched 10 years ago. What has the show meant to you over the past decade, and what do you hope it’s able to do for viewers?

From the moment the studio doors opened for the first time, it was obvious to me that this would be a hit. I could just feel it. As the remaining original co-host and a co-creator of Outnumbered, my vision was and still is, to bring non-scripted, spicy discussion to an audience that appreciates the truth and good TV.

For 10 years my behind the scenes life on Outnumbered has been a delicious mix of motherhood; up and down with my weight; keeping up with the biggest breaking news, political elections and road trips gathering Americans‘ most important stories. And viewers show us every day that they enjoy being along for this joyous ride that rates like pancakes!

Your upcoming special, Footsteps of My Father, was a very personal project, bringing you to the places where your father served in the Vietnam War. Did anything catch you off guard when you put yourself into his shoes?

This is the most personal I have ever been in front of the camera. Trekking my dad’s combat trail in Vietnam was almost too much for my heart to take at times. I carried his burial flag with me in my backpack. When I landed in Vietnam there was a rush of emotions. I missed my parents more than ever.

What I thought I knew about that war and his involvement ended up being just a tiny snapshot of the realities of fighting in a war that U.S. citizens would come to protest against. My father served two tours of duty in America’s mighty mission to preserve democracy in a faraway nation that was being swallowed up by the spread of communism. At home, our own nation was struggling with a violent racial divide. Yet, my father told his younger brothers and anyone who listened, “I chose to go fight for America because it was the best place on the planet to live. The U.S. Constitution clearly defines excellence and potential for America.” He added, “The Civil Rights struggle is American freedom on the move.” My father was a patriot.

In Vietnam, I met people old and young who shared that they now understand what America was trying to do. While I felt their kindness and openness to me and my Fox Nation team, they are a communist nation. In my special, you’ll see visible remnants and reinventions of that kind of government. And, you’ll actually hear my dad’s voice telling stories of his survival and near-misses in the war. For my national bestselling book, 9 Rules of Engagement: A Military Brat’s Guide to Life and Success, my husband Tony Berlin interviewed my dad and saved those precious few recordings on his cell phone.

My dad died Christmas Day of 2020. He was dressed for the day, looking sharp and at peace. The Lord has him now. Vietnam reminded me of my faith and my singular purpose to live a life that will deliver me to heaven to thank Dad with renewed vigor and understanding, for his service of our great nation.

You also dipped your toes back into the true-crime genre recently with the docuseries Surviving a Serial Killer, about 17-year-old Lisa McVey, who managed to escape her captor after 26 horrific hours and help authorities put an end to his criminal spree. What compelled you to spotlight McVey’s story 40 years later?

When a survivor talks, I listen. And Lisa McVey is unlike any survivor I’ve ever met. She faced rape, torture, death all as a teenager and never gave up. The nightmare and details of what happened to her are bone chilling. And then to be able to help detectives track down the serial killer who once had her in his clutches is nothing short of a miracle. She’s a warrior.

True crime has always been a captivating and important part of my career. When I was a primary prime-time anchor at WDAF-TV FOX4 in Kansas City, I had a series called Survivors Talk. Years later, I spent 29 days on the Caribbean island of Aruba as a correspondent for the national TV magazine A Current Affair. I was there on a different assignment which landed me smack in the middle of one of the most covered missing persons stories in world history. I arrived in the early moments after teenager Natalee Holloway vanished on Aruba. I actually happened to bump into her mother at a hotel check-in desk and she told me police could not find her daughter. That was wild ride. Beth Holloway is a special woman, a mom who will never give up looking for answers to what truly happened to her beloved Natalee.

On top of your career, you and your husband are raising two teenage daughters, who we’ve spoken to you about previously. How are you preparing them to stand on their own as they inch closer to adulthood?

It’s wonderful that Bella and Danika get to witness me living out my career dreams as a TV news anchor and host of two shows, a bestselling author and more. I teach them to pray for peace, strength and discernment. And to surround themselves with kind, creative and hardworking friends. And I remind them that dream chasing is hard work!