John Kirby, the Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, has been a busy man since the United States decided to assist Ukraine in its war against Russia.

John Kirby and his wife, Donna, raised two children, Meagan and Colin. 

John Kirby and his wife, Donna, met in the Navy. It’s unclear when they tied the knot. 

The couple raised two children, Meagan and Colin. Meagan’s revelation that she battled anorexia for six years thrust her into the national spotlight. She and John wrote an opinion article on CNN detailing, among other things, how her parents helped her overcome the mental illness. 

Meagan stated that her anorexia struggles started after a friend called her fat. Although she ate healthy food and exercised often, Meagan couldn’t shake the idea that people saw her as fat, she wrote. John stated that he noticed a difference in Meagan but ignored it, attributing the changes to adolescence. However, Donna noticed that Meagan had a serious problem. 

“I hadn’t fooled her [Donna],” Meagan wrote. “‘No mom,’ I said, ‘I’m fine.’ She begged me to tell her what was going on. At last, I blurted out the ‘fat’ insult that had hurt so much, the one I couldn’t get out of my head. And then we talked. It felt so good to talk.”

That conversation started Meagan’s journey to recovery. “Anti-depression drugs. Art therapy. Music therapy. Group sessions. Individual sessions. Sessions with just Donna and me. Sessions without Donna. We tried it all, and while not all of it made a difference, I believe we worked hard to find a way through,” John summarized her daughter’s recovery.