Who is Laura Rutledge’s husband? ESPN host says she used burner accounts to defend spouse online

Laura Rutledge and Josh Rutledge’s relationship started at a college tailgate in 2011, a chance meeting that led to marriage two years later. As reported by People, the ESPN NFL Live host and the former MLB player went on to raise two children, Reese and Jack, while sharing their journey with fans online. Their careers unfolded in different directions. Laura’s rise from Miss Florida 2012 to respected sports broadcaster paralleled Josh’s move from the baseball field to the business world. Throughout, they backed each other’s career changes and challenges.

In 2018, Laura Rutledge told SB Nation,

“He’s just always been a wonderful supporter of me and everything that I’m doing in college football, college baseball, whatever it may be. He’s been such a great encourager and I hope I’ve done the same for him.”

Recently, as per Us Weekly, Laura Rutledge went a step further in describing her support for the love of her life. Laura acknowledged that she had once fought back against online critics of Josh, admitting she used a burner account on X with a name that was “like BillyHalo76 or something.”

Laura Rutledge revealed she secretly defended Josh Rutledge online with anonymous account:

For Laura Rutledge, marriage came with an unexpected challenge: watching her husband face criticism as a professional athlete. The ESPN reporter recalled on The Athletic’s Marchand Sports Media Podcast that she once created a burner account to step in when fans turned on her husband Josh, who played in MLB from 2012 through 2017.

“This is a true story, I actually think this Twitter or X handle might still exist, but when he was with the Angels. I made a fake Twitter, which I’m admitting this, OK, I know this was wrong. I’m not doing it ever since, but this was a one-time thing,” she explained.

Laura Rutledge shared that the account, under the alias “Billy Halo,” was devoted to positive comments.

“And Billy Halo only tweeted positive things about Josh Rutledge and then the occasional Mike Trout tweet, because I was like, ‘Shoot, someone is going to figure this out.’”

Josh’s career included stints with the Rockies and the Red Sox, though he never took the field for the Angels despite being traded there in 2014. A brief stay in Triple-A preceded a move to Boston, and he later retired in 2018 following an unsuccessful tryout with the Giants. Laura Rutledge admitted her husband was unaware of her secret defense campaign.

“I don’t think Josh knows this, if he watches this he’s going to be really mad at me,” she shared.

Laura Rutledge also shared how difficult it was to hear boos from the stands.

“I really struggled with it, there were times when he played for the Red Sox … they had him at third base, and he hadn’t played third base since middle school. He barely played third base. And he’s at the hot corner and they’re in Fenway, he has a couple of errors in a game and people are booing him and I’m like, ‘shut up!’” she shared

Laura Rutledge reflected on her rise from beauty queen to ESPN host:

Laura Rutledge’s path from beauty queen to sports broadcaster highlighted her determination and growth. Reflecting on her career during the Sunday Sports Club podcast, uploaded in April 2025, the ESPN host expressed her gratitude.

"There are a lot of things here and I can't believe that I get to do this, it's beyond a dream job. It's a job that I couldn't have even dreamed of for myself," she shared.

Alongside her high-profile role, Rutledge balanced life at home. She and her husband, former MLB player Josh Rutledge, are raising a daughter, Reese, and their son, Jack. However, balancing motherhood with television work was not without challenges.

"I felt this pressure to go back to work three weeks after having Reese, I was back to work wearing a diaper on TV. I couldn't get through airport security because they're searching my pants and they're like, 'What's in there?' I'm like, 'You don't wanna know.'" she shared.

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Laura Rutledge admitted that early on, she questioned whether she could maintain her career. “I couldn’t fathom” being both a mother and a reporter, she said, recalling that she believed her time at ESPN might be over.

"What I found is that we are capable of so much more than we think we are, and I wish that I wouldn't have wasted so much time feeling like I couldn't do things, when my daughter was born — she's 5 now — I told myself that entire pregnancy that my career was over and there was no way that I could possibly continue doing the level that I was doing at ESPN even at that time and also be a mom." she shared.

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