Brzezinski was born in New York City on May 2, 1967,[4] the daughter of Polish-born foreign policy expert and former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzeziński[5] and Swiss-born sculptor Emilie Anna Benešová.

The family moved to McLean, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., in late 1976, when Zbigniew was named National Security Advisor by newly elected President Jimmy Carter.

In 2001, Brzezinski began a short hiatus from CBS News, during which she worked for rival MSNBC on the weekday afternoon show, HomePage, with co-anchors Gina Gaston and Ashleigh Banfield.

In December 2017, Brzezinski complained on her show that women who had accused her friend and former colleague Mark Halperin of sexual harassment would not meet with him so he could apologize.

[9] On December 12, 2018, Brzezinski called Trump's Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "a wannabe dictator's butt-boy", referring to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, during a live MSNBC broadcast.

[10][11][12] On June 26, 2007, near the beginning of Morning Joe, Brzezinski refused to read a report about Paris Hilton's release from jail.

After several sarcastic remarks from host Scarborough, she attempted to set the story's script on fire on the air, but was physically prevented from doing so by co-host Geist.

Erik Wemple of The Washington Post criticized Brzezinski and co-host Scarborough for frequent phone interviews with Donald Trump during the 2016 Presidential campaign.

[16] The 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak revealed that Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairperson of the Democratic National Committee, had emailed Chuck Todd, the Political Director of NBC News and host of Meet the Press, to demand that he "stop" Brzezinski from criticizing the DNC's treatment of Bernie Sanders.

[19] Her co-host Joe Scarborough said the decision to ban Conway from future appearances was based on her being "out of the loop" and "in none of the key meetings".

[19] On February 15, 2017, Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin agreed that Conway should be banned from future television appearances.

[21][22][23] During the 2016 presidential campaign, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump tweeted several times criticizing both Brzezinski and Scarborough.

[26][27][28][29] Brzezinski and Scarborough then accused the White House of threatening to blackmail them with an exposé in a tabloid magazine unless the pair apologized publicly to the President.

[30] On May 20, 2020, while hosting Morning Joe, Brzezinski spoke out against Trump for tweeting a conspiracy theory that her husband was involved in the death of Lori Klausutis, an intern in Scarborough's Florida office in 2001, while he was in Congress.

[37] In early 2017, Brzezinski became engaged to her co-host Joe Scarborough, and they were married on November 24, 2018, in Washington, D.C., with Rep. Elijah Cummings serving as the officiant.

[44] According to The New York Times, the book "follows Brzezinski through her professional chutes and ladders — the freelance gigs, the graveyard shifts, the drama (covering 9/11), the dreariness (puff segments on shoes) — the only constant being the precariousness of her employment".

[45] The News-Times says that Brzezinski uses "the roller-coaster model of her own career to advise people" who have become unemployed, which she sees as a "reset" that can be "cleansing and liberating in ways you never knew.

[50] In 2021, Forbes partnered with Brzezinski and her "Know Your Value" initiative, to shine a light on 50 diverse women over the age of 50 who have achieved significant success later in life, often by overcoming formidable odds or barriers.