Julie Chen has decided to leave The Talk, multiple sources confirmed to CNN on Monday, September 17. The host has been absent on the show for a full week, since her husband Les Moonves was fired from his role as CBS CEO. Chen, 48, is reportedly set to announce the news on Tuesday, September 18, via a video on the show. “She has decided that her main focus needs to be clearing her
husband’s name from accusations made 25-30 years ago and tending to her
son,” a source told CNN.
Julie Chen and HusbandGetty ImagesHowever, she will reportedly remain as the host of Big Brother, though it’s unclear if that means for the season currently airing or the years to come. Moonves was let go from CBS
following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. He has denied all
claims made against him. The former CBS CEO was first accused in a New
Yorker report published in July. Chen tweeted a statement at the time, defending her husband. “I have
known my husband, Leslie Moonves, since the mid-90s, and I have been
married to him for almost 14 years,” she wrote. “Leslie is a good man
and loving father, devoted husband and inspiring corporate leader. He
has always been a kind, decent and moral human being. I fully support my
husband and stand behind him and his statement.” “Untrue allegations from decades ago are now being made against me
that are not consistent with who I am. Effective immediately I will no
longer be Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CBS,” he continued. “I
am deeply saddened to be leaving the company. I wish nothing but the
best for the organization, the newly comprised board of directors and
all of its employees.” Moonves married Chen in 2004 and they share son Charlie, 8.
Julie Chen Stands By Her Man
As Julie Chen skips ‘The Talk’ premiere, her co-hosts have a tough conversation about Les Moonves
Les Moonves and his wife, Julie Chen, arrive for the Kennedy Center Honors gala dinner in Washington last year. (Kevin Wolf/AP)
On
Monday, CBS’s daytime chatfest “The Talk” kicked off its ninth season —
but had to start on a much more serious note than anyone had
anticipated. Barely 24 hours earlier, news broke that the network’s
chief executive, Leslie Moonves, was stepping down, after two bombshell stories in the New Yorker alleged a pattern of sexual assault and harassment from the 1980s to the early 2000s.
Moonves
said “untrue allegations from decades ago are now being made against me
that are not consistent with who I am.” But many observers were
wondering what his wife, Julie Chen, would have to say. Chen, co-host of
“The Talk” and reality show “Big Brother,” has been married to Moonves
since 2004.
As it turned out, Chen decided to
skip the episode entirely. She released a brief statement: “I am taking a
few days off from ‘The Talk’ to be with my family. I will be back soon
and will see you Thursday night on ‘Big Brother.'” Her co-hosts had no
choice to discuss the situation, and they were clearly uncomfortable.
Moonves to depart CBS
CBS announced on Sept. 9 that CEO Leslie Moonves will step down after accusations of sexual misconduct.(Nicki DeMarco /The Washington Post)
“I’ve
never been nervous in my life, but I’m kind of very nervous right
now,” Sharon Osbourne confessed, sounding choked up. “Whatever times
I’ve had of hardship over the last eight years, Julie has always been
there for me. She’s been a friend, she’s somebody who I admire and
respect greatly. And it’s very embarrassing and upsetting to have to
talk about her husband. But we do. We feel it’s right.”
The
show aired clips from “CBS This Morning” discussing the situation,
including the fact that the network is withholding any severance package
for Moonves until there’s an investigation into the sexual misconduct
allegations.
Co-hosts of “The Talk”: Sheryl Underwood, left, Sara Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Eve and Julie Chen. (Andrew Eccles/CBS)
Osbourne
said she doesn’t know Moonves aside from the occasional hello: “I know
nothing about the man other that he’s Julie’s husband and he was the
head of the biggest network in the world and the most powerful man in
TV,” she said. A couple of months ago (presumably when Ronan Farrow’s
first New Yorker article dropped), she was asked to give a statement of
support for him. She did at the time; but then she read Farrow’s second
story on Sunday, which included accusations of forced oral sex and
Moonves exposing himself without consent, as well as intimidation and
retribution that torpedoed women’s careers.
“He’s not been convicted of any crime, but obviously the man has a problem,” Osbourne said.
Co-host
Sara Gilbert also spoke up with support for Chen. “Julie is our friend,
this is our ninth season, and we’ve been together since the beginning. I
love her; I support her always,” she said. “However, this is an
important time in our culture, and just because this hits close to home,
it doesn’t change this story. All women’s stories matter, and these
women’s stories matter. This is very serious, and the appropriate
actions need to take place.”
Eve, who joined
the show last year, added that “I’ve now come to care for every woman at
this table, and this is ridiculously difficult.” She said she’s praying
for Chen and her family. “I hope and pray that we get to a place where
we don’t have to talk about this anymore, where women are equal, where
these stories won’t have to happen anymore. I just really need us to get
that place,” she said.
Sheryl Underwood echoed
her co-hosts and said she hopes the women who come forward will inspire
others who have been in similarly terrible situations. “Women should
not feel that they have to carry these secrets and burdens,” she said.
“We have got to understand that women are carrying this around . . . but
today we say enough is enough. Today we say we believe you, we hear
you.”
Osbourne noted that one story in particular, about former TV executive Phyllis Golden-Gottlieb, “really broke my heart.” Golden-Gottlieb alleged
that Moonves assaulted her while she worked for him in the 1980s. Last
fall, finding courage from the #MeToo movement, she filed a complaint
with the Los Angeles Police Department. “He absolutely ruined my
career,” she told Farrow, saying she was blocked from advancing at the
company.
“Power, power, power,” Osbourne said.
“Why is it when men get power, it goes to their testicles? I do not know
why, but it’s true.”
Although Chen hasn’t addressed the most recent wave of allegations, she tweeted
a statement in July, after Farrow’s first story: “I have known my
husband, Leslie Moonves, since the late ’90s, and I have been married to
him for almost 14 years. Leslie is a good man and a loving father,
devoted husband and inspiring corporate leader. He has always been a
kind, decent and moral human being. I fully support my husband and stand
behind him and his statement.”
Emily YahrEmily
Yahr is an entertainment reporter for The Washington Post. She joined
The Post in 2008 and has previously written for the Boston Globe, USA
Today, the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader and the American Journalism
Review. Follow
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The Julie Chan Scandal With CBS Net Worth: $50 Million
Moonves’ Ouster Leaves Julie Chen in Awkward Spot as Host of Two CBS Shows
Julie Chen remains an integral part of two CBS Corp. TV programs, even as her husband, former chairman-CEO Leslie Moonves, has left the company under a cloud. That awkward situation has given rise to speculation about whether she can continue her work.
Viewers of “The Talk,” one of two CBS series on which Chen serves as a host, have not heard directly from her
this week in the wake of Moonves’ forced resignation on Sunday. Moonves
was ousted just hours after the CBS Corp. board of directors announced
Moonves would be leaving the company amid multiple accusations of sexual
misconduct leveled at him. He has denied many of the allegations. “I am taking a few days off from ‘The Talk’ to be with my family. I will be back soon and will see you Thursday night on ‘Big Brother,’”
Chen said in a statement issued just before Monday’s edition of “The
Talk” aired. Her other co-hosts on the program, including Sharon Osbourne and Sara Gilbert, have discussed the fallout from Moonves’ departure on both episodes broadcast this week.
As Julie Chen Takes Break From Talk in the Wake of Les Moonves' Firing, Co-Hosts Weigh In on Ex-CEO's '
Julie Chen Responds to Husband Les Moonves' CBS Resignation Amidst Sexual Misconduct Allegations
Julie Chen was a no-show for The Talk‘s Season 9 premiere —
the day after husband Les Moonves’ firing from CBS — so that she could
“be with [her] family” during this difficult time. “I am taking a few days off from The Talk to be with my
family,” Chen said in a statement released simultaneously with the
daytime talker’s Season 9 launch. “I will be back soon and will see you
Thursday night on Big Brother.” Sharon Osbourne opened The Talk on Monday by saying, “It’s a
bittersweet day,” marking Season 9 as they were in the immediate wake
of the disruption in Chen’s life. “I’ve never been nervous in my life,”
Osbourne said, “but I’m kind of very nervous right now,” seeing as she
and the other co-hosts were about to “talk about something that affects
everybody’s lives here at CBS,” where Moonves was CEO and chairman. ADVERTISING
Moonves was removed from those top posts on Sunday after new allegations
of sexual misconduct and assault surfaced. Any severance he may have
coming is now in limbo as two independent parties investigate the claims
for CBS, though at least $20 million of Moonves’ walk-away money has
been earmarked for #MeToo-related charities/organizations.
After explaining Chen’s absence from the premiere, the Talk
co-hosts went about discussing the Moonves news. “It’s very embarrassing
and upsetting to have to talk about [Julie’s] husband, but… we feel
it’s right,” said Osbourne, who noted that she herself only knew the TV
titan “in a superficial way.”
Osbourne said that back in July, she was asked to issue a statement
in support of Moonves, but “after seven more women have come out… the
pattern is so similar, that for me… obviously the man has a problem.”
Osbourne later added that one of the new allegations — from Phyllis
Golden-Gottlieb, a TV exec who claims that Moonves forced her to perform
oral sex on him back in the 1980s — “just broke my heart. And I dont
care if it was… 20, 30 years ago, somebody that breaks somebody’s life
like that has to be accountable.”
Sara Gilbert also chimed in, saying that while she loves and supports
Chen “always,” “This is an important time in our culture. And just
because this hits close to home, it doesn’t change this story. All women’s stories matter. This is very serious and the appropriate actions need to take place.”
Sheryl Underwood hailed Chen as a “strong” and “resilient” woman,
then suggested that this scandal and other #MeToo revelations represent
“a blessing from God, to be unburdened from secrets and unchained from
lies. Now is the time for everyone to look inside themselves and be
better people.”
In late July, in the immediate wake of the New Yorker‘s
original expose of Moonves, Chen said in a statement, “I have known my
husband, Leslie Moonves, since the late ‘90s, and I have been married to
him for almost 14 years…. He has always been a kind, decent and moral
human being. I fully support my husband and stand behind him.”
Chen let that statement stand during her first appearance on The Talk soon after that first beat in the scandal broke.
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