On a 12-day road trip for the Fox Nation show “Park’d,” Abby Hornacek takes off in an RV, sitting in the passenger seat. Her driver is her dad, Utah Jazz legend Jeff Hornacek. Her mom, Stacy Hornacek, is along for the ride, too, unofficially serving as her daughter’s makeup artist.
Later on the trip, which encompassed Arizona, Utah and Colorado, Abby Hornacek is leading a llama through the wilderness when she pauses and says, “Llamas, jackrabbits, Mom and Dad — we’ve got the whole crew here!”
When Fox News Media hired Abby Hornacek for its new streaming platform in 2019, it was getting her family, too.
That’s because Hornacek calls her parents the most important people in her life, and they were pivotal in shaping their daughter into a person who can bungee-jump off a bridge for a global audience, even though she confesses to being “painfully shy.” There’s no evidence of shyness on “Park’d,” in which Hornacek tours America’s national parks — 40 so far — and demonstrates for viewers adrenalin-racing activities they can do there, as well as activities for families a bit less adventurous.
Fox News' Abby Hornacek is photographed in New York City, Tuesday, March 25, 2025.| Taurat Hossain, for the Deseret
“I feel so blessed to be able to do this show highlighting the treasures we have in our country. A lot of people can’t travel outside of the country — maybe they don’t have the means, maybe they don’t have the time. But I love highlighting the beautiful things that we have here in the United States as well,” she said.
Growing up in Utah and Arizona, Hornacek and her two brothers were rarely given the opportunity to be sedentary; they were often encouraged to push themselves past discomfort, all while having fun. The fact that this sometimes resulted in stitches didn’t discourage either the parents or their children, and the upbringing helped turn Abby Hornacek into a University of Southern California athlete who decided on a career in broadcasting in order to keep sports in her life.
She’s also a pretty good basketball player, if her clips on social media are any indication.
Before joining Fox Nation the year after the subscription streaming service launched, Hornacek was a contributor to ESPN and a sideline reporter for FOX Sports, and also was a host of the first live-streamed sports and entertainment show on what was then known as Twitter. At Fox, “Park’d” is her signature show, although it’s only one of several. Her other shows include “Ride to Work,” in which she drives Fox personalities like Peter Doocy and Greg Gutfeld to the office, and “American Arenas,” in which she takes viewers inside iconic sports venues. She also appears on shows like “Fox and Friends,” helped with election coverage and hosts a podcast called “Getting Schooled.”
Hornacek, 30, recently talked to the Deseret News about what it was like growing up with a famous father, how her experience in Utah’s national parks led to the Fox Nation show, and what her parents proactively did to raise active, athletic kids.
Abby Hornacek is photographed at Central Park in New York City Tuesday, March 25, 2025.| Taurat Hossain, for the Deseret News
The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
Deseret News: Tell us about the genesis of the Fox Nation show “Park’d.” Did you join Fox to do this show, or were already working at Fox when it was developed?
Abby Hornacek: When I was going through my interview process with Fox Nation, they had brought up the idea of a national parks show, and I hopped on it right away, being very outdoorsy myself, loving nature, that’s where I find the most solace, is in nature. So I immediately said if you guys are going to do a national parks show, what about this, and what about this, and what if we add activities around the area so people would know what to do with their families? So I pitched ideas about parks before I was hired. They hired me to be a Fox Nation talent and “Park’d” was my first show. I’ve now done a few other shows as well … I also do some work on Fox News as well, I’ve covered a lot of different topics, but “Park’d” has really been my heart and soul.
Our new season starts with “Sequoia to Yosemite,” and both parks are celebrating their 135th anniversaries. We started in LA, and we did activities along the way — I did a 10-mile hike and did a bungee jump and they convinced me to do a back flip off the Bridge to Nowhere; I did a little barrel racing, I rode horses, and after Sequoia, we drove up to Yosemite, and I climbed Half Dome, and then rappelled off the side of a giant cliff. That one is very adrenalin based. They all kind of are.
Fox News' Abby Hornacek is photographed in Central Park in New York City, Tuesday, March 25, 2025.| Taurat Hossain, for the Deseret
DN: Is there any activity you had to learn to do for the show?
AH: I was an athlete, and my parents blessed us so much by taking us outside all the time. With rock climbing, for instance — we rock climbed at Joshua Tree. I’ve done it in a gym, but never out in nature, so that’s something I had to learn on the spot. It’s very challenging. Bungee jumping is something I did when I was in college, and I did not like it, and I said, I’m never doing this again. And then they said, “What about bungee jumping?” and I said, “Well, I guess it would be good for the show.” And so we ended up doing it for that. I bungee jumped three times that trip – only one aired — but just so people at home know, I did it three times.
DN: Is there anything you’ve done in filming these shows that terrified you?
AH: You might find this answer a bit odd … all the adrenaline activities I’ve done, I was afraid, but I wasn’t terrified. Skydiving, I love it — I would get my certification if I had the time. I would go skydiving every day if I could. ... But I have this giant fear of sunken ships. I don’t know what it is — I’m not afraid of sharks, I’m not afraid of scuba diving or snorkeling. I’m fine being on a ship. But we went snorkeling at Dry Tortugas National Park down to a shipwreck … and I did it, but it was terrifying. To dive down to that, I can honestly say I almost passed out.
Fox News' Abby Hornacek is photographed in Central Park in New York City, Tuesday, March 25, 2025.| Taurat Hossain, for the Deseret
DN: I’ve read that at one point in your childhood, you wanted to be a marine biologist. How did you get from there to here?
AH: There’s no other way this could have happened besides God. Because when I was younger, I loved nature, and I loved photography as well. I would lay in my backyard in all red and take pictures of hummingbirds because they’re attracted to red.
Then I spent so much time at the beach, surfing, playing in the water. I wanted to know everything that lived under the surface, and science has always intrigued me. And so I think the marine biologist love came from, I want to explore things we can’t see, and I want to help save the animals, and I want to bring more attention to these things. As time went on, I was an athlete and started getting into sports and was very fond of statistics and numbers. I played sand volleyball in college and I thought, if I’m not going to play professionally, what is something I can do to stay close to sports, and broadcast journalism and sports broadcasting is something I found that could potentially be the link.
And it comes full circle with what I prayed for, now I’m doing a show about national parks, where I can dive down to a shipwreck and talk about unique ecosystems underneath the ocean surface in Florida for one of my shows. So somehow the marine biology snuck its way in there.
Jeff Hornacek, with his family on the left and the Millers' on the right, wave to the crowd as his number is retired at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah Nov. 19, 2002.| Tom Smart, Deseret News
DN: Tell me about growing up in Holladay, Utah, and how it helped shape you.
AH: I lived in Utah from 1994, which is when I was born, to, I think, 2004. I was 10 or 11 when we moved to Arizona, but it was amazing growing up in Utah because of all it has to offer. Arizona also has a lot of hiking and nature, but Utah was a spectacular place to grow up. We have pictures of us at Zion National Park and Angels Landing — it’s changed a lot since then. But my parents took us out camping and to national parks, all of the good stuff.
DN: You clearly didn’t grow up in a sedentary household. What did your parents do to encourage you to be active, and is there anything that they did that could be helpful to other parents trying to get their kids off their screens and outside and moving.
AH: I love this question, because my parents are the most important people in my life, because of the way they raised us. They very much encouraged us, both my parents. As cliche as it sounds, if we had an interest in anything, they encouraged us — they would say, “Oh, you can do it, you’re just going to have to really work at it.”
We were blessed to be surrounded by places we could go in the outdoors, but my parents were not lazy, and I think that’s the No. 1 thing. My dad was traveling, and I had two older brothers, and so my mom had three kids and three dogs. And my dad was on the road a lot and was probably so exhausted. But he was so present with us when he was home, and obviously, in the off season. He would get home at four in the morning sometimes, and still be up three hours later to help my mom and (help) us go to school.
Abby Hornacek is pictured when she was eight years old in this family photo at Zion National Park.| Hornacek family photo
My mom, I remember, growing up, we would go on these hikes, and she would make everything so special. She brought the magic of the outdoors to us, and was always creative in thinking about different adventures — everything was an adventure. I remember mountain biking at a young age, because my parents were down to take us mountain biking. ... My mom always said the greatest gift you can give someone is your time. They gave us all of their time. They never forced us to do anything or be anything we didn’t want to be, but they challenged us to do things that made us uncomfortable. While everyone else was at home playing PlayStation, my parents were saying, no, you’re going to go outside and play with your siblings. … we’re going to go on a scavenger hunt and hunt for hidden treasure. So everything my parents did for us growing up made it feel like an adventure — even if we were just in the backyard.
DN: You were mountain biking and skiing before you were in kindergarten. Did you ever break a bone as a child?
AH: Weirdly enough, I’ve never broken a bone, but I did get lots of stitches. I’ve had probably about a hundred stitches. But that was more on me than my parents. My parents could only do so much for my clumsiness.
We fell. We got scrapes. But my parents cared for us through it and really inspired us to keep pushing through. I don’t have a lot of fear about things.
DN: Looking at your social media feeds, I’m struck by how non-political you are. So many people out there associate Fox with politics, but there are many components to Fox Media that are not political at all. Have you had any reaction out in the world about working for Fox, even though you are not a political personality?
AH: I do segments as a contributor, and I’ve definitely covered some politics, but to your point, I haven’t been a political figure that people’s mind goes to. People hear sometimes where you work, and they hear Fox News, and they might have some preconceived ideas about you because of headlines they’ve seen. But I always tell people, if you watch, there’s so much more that Fox has to offer. And even with our politics … I’ve gotten some reaction, but it’s the people who want to have that reaction and they don’t take the time to watch the network.
It’s not all political. … I was just at the Houston Rodeo, for example. ... And there are so many different views at Fox. It’s really a big family, and what I love about this network is that there is so much healthy discourse — where people are always talking among themselves, learning other people’s opinions, and really trying to understand how other people feel, and that’s how it should be in our world. I feel so grateful to be here, because we’re all friends outside of work. They always say Fox is one big family, and it is — it doesn’t matter what role you have — on air, not on air, you can be the top dog with the most viewers or someone who just started — everyone treats each other the same, with respect and with so much love.
DN: “Ride to Work” is such a quirky concept for a show – you are literally driving other Fox personalities to work, while giving us a look into their lives, and yours. Can you tell me a little bit about the season that will start in April?
AH: The season will include Judge Jeanine Pirro, Charles Payne, Eric Shawn and Emily Compagno. And on Emily, I brought a littled “Park’d” element into it as well. I found out what her biggest fear was, and I brought in the car her biggest fear, which happened to be spiders. I made her hold a spider. She was a champ. People might not want to say “yes” to me for “Ride to Work” because they never know what’s going to happen.
DN: Finally, I have to ask: What’s up with the banjo? You say on your X profile that you are a beginner banjo player? Is that true, or just something quirky to add to your bio?
AH: It is true. Fun fact: My parents always taught us growing up to save our money — save, save, save. I worked in college, and I always wanted to learn to play the banjo, and so with my first paycheck when I was working in Chicago, I bought this banjo. And I’ve been trying to learn. And living in New York City, I know my neighbors don’t love it, but I’m doing my best. I try to be respectful, and I put little notes on their doors that say, if you can ever hear me playing this, please knock on my door … because you never know if they can hear or not. I’ve been trying to teach myself off of YouTube. I can play “Sweet Home Alabama.” But I should probably take real lessons.
In addition to Fox Nation, “Park’d” also airs on weekends onFOX Weather, and this weekend viewers can watch the series on Saturday at 4 p.m. MT and Sunday at 8 p.m. MT.