Kristen Bell Voices Mary Magdalene in Fox’s New Jesus Podcast—And She Had No Idea

Fox News Media recently revealed that its religious division, Fox Faith, is expanding with a new major project: The Life of Jesus Podcast. The 52-episode series is designed to take listeners through the life, teachings, and miracles of Jesus Christ.

The podcast will be hosted by Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt, and the network’s announcement highlighted that over 100 actors are participating, including Kristen Bell as the voice of Mary Magdalene.

However, Bell was reportedly surprised by the news. Her representatives told Rolling Stone that she had recorded the voice work for a completely different project 15 years ago and had no idea Fox Faith was using it for this 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 also noted that Bell did not give permission for the old audiobook recordings to be reused.

Bell had 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 podcast to Fox Faith. Several of the same celebrities featured in the original audiobook, including Brian Cox, Sean Astin, Neal McDonough, Malcolm McDowell, John Rhys-Davies, and Julia Ormond, are also part of the new series.

Some actors were unaware their recordings were being reused. Cox, who voices God in the podcast, previously referred to Fox News as “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.

The Life of Jesus Podcast is set to begin airing its first episodes on November 30. Reports indicate that the 23-hour original audiobook has been restructured into a multipart podcast with new material added by Earhardt.

According to a note obtained by Rolling Stone, a producer requested that at least one actor not mention that the recordings were made years ago, hoping the podcast would feel more current.

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