Charissa Thompson

Charissa Thompson was previously married when she was 25. She married sports agent Kyle Thousand on December 30, 2020, and their divorce was announced in 2022.

Thompson also previously dated ESPN analyst and former Chicago Bulls player Jay Williams. She has co-hosted the podcast Calm Down with fellow sportscaster Erin Andrews since 2021.

Thompson began her broadcasting career with college sports programming on the Big Ten Network and Fox Sports Net. She appeared on Big Ten's Best and Friday Night Tailgate, reported on college football and basketball, and co-hosted The Best Damn Sports Show Period with Chris Rose and John Salley. She also hosted the rodeo program Toughest Cowboy and worked on baseball programs including The Baseball Report.

Her early assignments expanded to national sports coverage. She reported for Yahoo! Sports at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games and the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, and covered the BCS National Championship Game, Super Bowl XLV and the NBA All-Star Game. She also reported on the NHL for Versus, including the 2010 NHL All-Star Game and the Stanley Cup Finals.

In 2011, Thompson joined ESPN and co-hosted Numbers Never Lie with Michael Smith. She later became the host of SportsNation, replacing Michelle Beadle, and left ESPN in June 2013 to return to Fox Sports.

Thompson returned to Fox Sports in 2013 for the launch of Fox Sports 1, where she hosted Fox Sports Live and became a presenter for Fox NFL Kickoff. From 2014 to 2017, she co-hosted the syndicated entertainment program Extra with Mario Lopez and Tracey Edmonds. She also co-hosted ABC's celebrity diving competition Splash with Joey Lawrence and became one of the hosts of Netflix's Ultimate Beastmaster.

In 2018, Thompson became the host of NFL Films Presents on FS1. She later joined Amazon Prime Video's Thursday Night Football coverage, hosting its pregame, halftime and postgame programs.

In a November 2023 interview, Thompson said that she had sometimes made up aspects of her sideline reports. The admission drew criticism from other sideline reporters and the Society of Professional Journalists.

Thompson later posted a clarification and apology, saying that she had used the wrong words. She explained that the reports involved observations about games and that she had not attributed them to any player or coach.