Leeann Tweeden is an American radio broadcaster, model and sports commentator. She is co-host of Dr. Drew Midday Live on Radio 790 KABC in Los Angeles. to Bill Tweeden, a retired Air Force Chief Mechanic, and his wife Catherine. She is of Filipino descent on her mother's side. After graduating from Osbourn Park High School in 1991, Tweeden moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue a career in modeling.
Career
In 1992, while working as a hostess at a Hooters restaurant in Colorado Springs, Colorado, she won first place in the Venus International Model Search. This break led to national exposure, including a regular role as a fitness model on the TV show Fitness Beach. Tweeden modeled for promotional work for Hooters (which included an appearance in the restaurant's 1994 calendar), Venus International, and Frederick's of Hollywood. Tweeden was a correspondent for Fox Sports Networks' The Best Damn Sports Show Period from 2001 to 2007. In 2008, Tweeden became the third hostess of the NBC late night television series Poker After Dark. She has also appeared on the political discussion series Hannity in 2011 and 2012. Tweeden was seen in pre- and post-game coverage of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Fox Sports West and on Fox Sports 1's UFC Tonight, with Kenny Florian and Ariel Helwani.
On January 7, 2019, Tweeden became the co-host of Dr. Drew Midday on KABC, 790 AM.
Appearances
In August 1996, Tweeden appeared on the cover of Playboy magazine and as part of a fitness model pictorial for that issue. She did not appear nude. In December 2011, at 38 years old, she again appeared on the cover of Playboy, and in that issue was featured in a nude pictorial.
In 2002, she was a guest character in the motocross video game Freekstyle as a motocross rider. The March 2007 issue of FHM (the final U.S. issue ever printed) featured Tweeden as the cover girl. As part of Hooters' 25th anniversary in 2008, she was named among "The Top Hooters Girls of all time".
Since 2002, Tweeden has participated in 16 tours with the USO including 12 to Afghanistan and Iraq.
In 2012, Tweeden made an appearance on the season 10 finale of That Metal Show.
Allegations against Al Franken
thumb|upright|Franken and Tweeden in Kuwait on their 2006 USO tour
On October 30, 2017, California Congresswoman Jackie Speier was interviewed by the McIntyre show about a sexual assault that occurred when she was in her 20s and was a congressional staffer for Representative Leo Ryan. She alleged that Ryan's chief of staff "kissed me and stuck his tongue in my mouth". According to the show's host Doug McIntyre, that led to a conversation with Tweeden about an alleged incident of sexual harassment between her and Minnesota U.S. Senator Al Franken. Following the posting of Tweeden's story, far-right radio show host and prominent conspiracy theorist Alex Jones broadcast that Stone had told him, in advance, "Get ready. Franken’s next". She said she pushed him away, feeling "disgusted and violated". According to The Washington Post, the photograph "shows Franken looking into a camera, his hands either over or on Tweeden’s chest as she slept".
Franken disputed Tweeden's version. In a long-form article covering the allegations for The New Yorker, Jane Mayer wrote that, according to Franken, Tweeden's "accusations appropriated jokes from comic routines that they’d performed together".
Franken responded, saying: "I certainly don't remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way, but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann. [...] As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn't. I shouldn't have done it." He issued a longer apology later, which Tweeden accepted. Other accusations of sexual misconduct—including grabbing a woman's bottom while posing for a photo—followed Tweeden's.
She considers herself fiscally conservative and said that she voted twice for President George W. Bush.