Former CNN anchor Valerie Hoff DeCarlo, who once faced national scrutiny after using a racial slur in a private message to a Black source, died last week at the age of 62 following a battle with stage 4 lung cancer. Hoff DeCarlo worked at CNN from 1992 to 1999 before joining Atlanta’s NBC affiliate WXIA, where she served as an anchor and consumer reporter for nearly two decades. Her career collapsed in 2017 after she referred to herself using the N-word while attempting to obtain video footage for a story on racial and police violence. The comment, made in a private exchange, was publicized by the recipient and led to her suspension and eventual resignation.
In the years after leaving WXIA, Hoff DeCarlo made efforts to return to journalism through her own blog, though the site was eventually taken down. She also continued to share personal stories connected to her life, including her experience with breast cancer in 2013 and her family’s adoption journey; one of her two sons had been adopted from Russia after she and her husband, Derrick DeCarlo, struggled with infertility. Friends and former colleagues remembered her as someone who often blended her personal and professional lives in her reporting.
Hoff DeCarlo received her lung cancer diagnosis in 2024. Despite the severity of her illness, she remained active in planning family events, including a cruise and a Christmas gathering, just weeks before her death. Loved ones described her as a resilient and devoted mother whose strength defined her both on and off the air. Her husband remembered her as “a strong, capable, loving woman and a wonderful mother.”