Holy Williams Biography
Holy Williams is a seasoned media personality who serves as CBS News’ senior foreign correspondent, based in the network’s London bureau. Before her current role, she spent eight years stationed in Istanbul, Turkey. Williams joined CBS News in July 2012 and has since reported on numerous critical international stories. Before her tenure at CBS, she was a Beijing-based Asia Correspondent for Sky News, covering major events such as the Japanese tsunami and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.
Holy Williams Age
Williams was born in 1977 in Tasmania, Australia, making her 47 years old as of 2024.
Holy Williams Height
She is 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 m) tall.
Holy Williams Nationality
She is Australian.
Holy Williams Education
Williams holds a Master of Arts in International Relations from Deakin University and a Bachelor’s degree in Asian Studies from the Australian National University, demonstrating her strong academic background in international affairs and regional studies.
Holy Williams Parents
Williams was born and raised in Tasmania, Australia, and later moved to Victoria. While specific details about her parents and siblings are not disclosed, it’s known that she grew up in a supportive family environment. Her interest in journalism and China began when she was 12 years old, inspired by watching the Tiananmen Square Protests on television. This early interest shaped her educational and career choices, leading her to study Chinese language studies and Asian history at the Australian National University and later earn a master’s degree in international relations from Deakin University.
Holy Williams Husband
Holy is married to a Spanish entrepreneur she met in China and lives with her husband and their daughter and son in Istanbul, Turkey.
Holy Williams CBS News
Williams is a CBS News senior foreign correspondent based in the network’s London bureau. Before her current role, she spent eight years in Istanbul, Turkey. Joining CBS News in July 2012, Williams brings over 25 years of experience covering major news events and international conflicts across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
Williams has extensively covered the present-day conflicts in Israel and Ukraine for CBS News. Following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants, she reported from the site where thousands of Israeli music festival attendees sought safety during the surprise assault, around three miles from Gaza. Williams also interviewed Moussa Abu Marzouk, a founding member of Hamas and a senior figure in its political wing, in Doha, Qatar, discussing hostage negotiations and a cease-fire deal between Hamas and Israel.
Williams has reported on the ground in Ukraine since the 2014 Maidan revolution. She first interviewed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in June 2021 from the trenches of Russia’s undeclared war on Ukraine and over breakfast in his parent’s kitchen. Since Russia’s ground invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Williams has significantly reported on the ground and contributed investigative dispatches from the war to the CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes.” Her reports include an investigation into U.S. taxpayer spending in Ukraine and an inside look at Kherson, a city formerly occupied and under constant fire by Russia.
Additionally, Williams has reported from within the Arctic Circle on the rapid climate changes transforming the region into a potential military flashpoint, with Russia increasing its military presence.
In 2017, Williams received an Emmy for her report from Erbil, Iraq, on Iraqi forces fighting off ISIS on the road to Mosul for the CBS Evening News. In 2015, she received the Edward R. Murrow Award for continuing coverage of ISIS and the Jack R. Howard Award from the Scripps Howard Foundation for her early reporting on ISIS in Syria and northern Iraq.
Fluent in Mandarin, Williams received the George Polk Award in 2012 for her reporting on Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, who escaped house arrest and fled to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. She was the first reporter to reach his village, evading government security guards, where other members of his family were being harassed by Chinese authorities.
Williams was one of the first journalists to report on the emergence of ISIS in Iraq’s north in the summer of 2014. She has continued to cover ISIS across the region, including the battle for Tikrit, the discovery of mass graves in western Iraq, and the militants’ advance in Libya. She has also covered Syria’s civil war from inside the country, where she and her team gained access to a prison holding alleged ISIS terrorists and interviewed female Kurdish fighters on the front lines.
Her international reporting includes the downfall of the Russian-backed government in Kyiv, the search for missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, the Israel-Gaza conflicts in 2014 and 2018, the uprisings in Egypt after the military removed former President Mohammed Morsi from office, and the Nepal earthquake. She has provided rare reporting from Saudi Arabia, interviewing women punished for demanding the right to drive.
Williams has distinguished herself as an international investigative reporter. In 2013, she went undercover inside a Bangladesh factory exporting clothing to U.S. and European retailers, discovering safety and labor violations. She posed as an ivory buyer to report on the global trafficking of illegal ivory from Africa to China and investigated the use of the U.S. Government-funded “dark net” by pedophiles.
Before joining CBS News, Williams was a Beijing-based Asia Correspondent for Sky News, covering the Japanese tsunami and nuclear disaster and the release of Burmese Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. Before that, she was a producer for both BBC News and Sky News, producing stories that won the Royal Television Society Award, the Foreign Press Association Award, and the Golden Nymph.
Williams was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 2007-2008.
Holy Williams Salary
Williams earns an annual salary estimated to be around $100,000.
Holy Williams Net Worth
Williams has an estimated net worth of approximately $1 million.
