The wife of former CBS CEO Les Moonves reveals in a new interview how she coped with everything after she was forced to leave the talk show due to her husband's sexual misconduct scandal.
- Sep 19, 2023
AceShowbiz - Julie Chen Moonves opened up about her departure from "The Talk" back in 2018. The wife of former CBS CEO Les Moonves revealed in a new interview how she coped with everything after she was forced to leave the CBS talk show due to her husband's sexual misconduct scandal.
"What I love is I do not need to come to a church or sit before a cross to pray," Chen Moonves shared during her appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Monday, September 18 as she promoted her new audio memoir "But First, God".
She went on to say, "Julie Chen before she found God was a self-absorbed, career-minded, vain, gossipy, fun to be with, but probably kind of a shallow person. Julie Chen Moonves, who now knows the Lord, is someone who wants to help others, who wants to look at everyone with a soft heart."
The host of "Big Brother" stressed that leaving the show wasn't her decision. "Yeah, I never revealed that until 'But First, God'. That was a hard time. I felt stabbed in the back," Chen Moonves noted. "I was."
Chen Moonves, who was then replaced by Carrie Ann Inaba, left the daytime talk show after her husband stepped down as CEO of CBS amid sexual misconduct allegations. He resigned after at least 12 women came forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct in a pair of New Yorker articles authored by Pulitzer Prize winner Ronan Farrow.
Amid the scandal, Chen Moonves publicly showed support to her husband, who denied the allegations. "Leslie is a good man and a loving father, devoted husband and inspiring corporate leader," she said at the time. "He has always been a kind, decent and moral human being. I fully support my husband and stand behind him."
When she exited "The Talk", Chen Moonves also made it clear that she supported her husband. "I have been at 'The Talk' since the day it started nine years ago and the cast, crew and staff have become family to me over the years. But right now, I need to spend more time at home with my husband and our young son, so I have decided to leave 'The Talk'," Chen Moonves told viewers in a pre-taped announcement.
Back to her new interview on "GMA", Chen Moonves revealed that she did ask her husband if there's any truth to the accusations. "I know my husband, you know," she said. As to how she could reconcile her ill feelings around her departure, she divulged, "I don't know if I could've reconciled if I didn't have God in my life."
She went on saying that she hopes her memoir would help others find God, noting, "God before anything and everything. Once I started that, I found peace, but most of all I found hope."
