Alison Starling-Alexander (born October 28, 1973) is an American former television news anchor and journalist. She was a co-anchor of WJLA-TV's weekday 4 PM and 5PM newscasts, and an anchor semi-regularly on the noon newscast. She stepped down from the station on November 22, 2023, citing a desire to spend more time with her family.
Starling is from Orlando, Florida.[1] She is from a military family and spent part of her childhood in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area while her father worked for the Office of the United States Trade Representative. She later returned to DC to be a congressional intern.[2] Per a DNA test she and her husband took, she is of mostly British and Irish descent.[3] Starling graduated from University of Florida in 1995. She then earned a Cultural Ambassadorial Scholarship from Rotary International to study in Tours, France for six months in 1995.[4]
Starling joined WJLA-TV in August 2003. One year later, she became co-anchor of Good Morning Washington (5-7AM) and ABC7 News at Noon. In 2005, Washingtonian named her one of the area's rising stars in local television news. On November 3, 2023, Starling announced that she would be stepping down from the station to focus more on spending time with her family. Her final newscast aired on November 22, 2023, the day before Thanksgiving.[6][7]
She was previously the co-anchor of the early morning program Good Morning Washington.
In February 2013 she announced her pregnancy,[11] and shared that she was having a girl.[12]
On December 11, 2014, the Washington Post noted that Starling was expecting the couple's second child.[13] The couple is raising their children Jewish.[14]
^Starling, Alison (May 22, 2013). "Alison Starling's baby: DNA ancestry test 23andME". WJLA. Starling's ancestry is clearly northern European, particularly Britain and Ireland. Her husband's, Peter, are Ashkenazic Jews from Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
^Marx, Ben (February 15, 2018). "NBC News' Peter Alexander on Cubs Fanaticism, Ballet, and His Proudest Moment as a Dad". Fatherly. I'm Jewish, the girls go to a Jewish preschool. One of my favorite joys is sharing Shabbat with them on Friday nights. The girls light the candles and we sing the blessings together. My wife is not Jewish but is the world's best mom and has totally embraced these traditions and I look forward to the girls being Bat Mitzvah'd one day.
