Chen was asked about the sexual misconduct allegations against husband Les Moonves, as well as what the pair told their 14-year-old son amid the scandal.
Julie Chen Moonves claims that she didn’t decide to leave The Talk on her own amid sexual misconduct allegations against husband Les Moonves; instead, she says, she was forced out.
Chen Moonves left her post at the talk show in 2018, after a total of 12 women accused her husband of sexual assault and harassment. Moonves told The New Yorker that he recognized three of the sexual encounters detailed in Ronan Farrow’s New Yorker exposé but said they were consensual. He did not specify which ones. He then resigned from his position at CBS.
Chen announced her exit from The Talk days later, saying on the show she needed “to spend more time at home with my husband and young son.” She continues to host Big Brother on CBS, however, and began using “Moonves” as part of her last name on the show.
She addressed her exit on Good Morning America this morning, where she was promoting her new audiobook But First, God. In the book, she reportedly claims her decision to leave the talk show was one made for her.
“Yeah, I never revealed that until ‘But First, God.’ That was a hard time,” she shared. “I felt stabbed in the back. I was, you know?”
She added that she turned to her faith to get through that time and work on herself. “I don’t know if I could’ve reconciled if I didn’t have God in my life,” she explained.
“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,” she continued. “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.”
Julie Chen Finally Explains Why She Took Husband Les Moonves' Name Amid Sexual Harassment Allegations
In the book, she also opens up about telling the pair’s son Charlie, 14, about the allegations against his father.
“I told him that there were reports that were false about our family, and that, I kept it simple. I said, ‘So if you ever hear anything, or you read anything, you come to us first. You know this family. You know who we are. And don’t let anyone shake that,'” she explained
Chen Moonves appeared slightly less comfortable when asked by GMA’s Juju Chang whether she asked her husband about the allegations and why she didn’t include references to the #MeToo movement in her book.
“That’s not what we’re here to talk about. But of course. Yeah. I know my husband. You know? I know my husband,” she said of the former question. Of the latter, she added, “I think that’s getting off track from But First, God. We all go through hard times in this world and in our life. Mine are not over just because I found Christ. I think we need to keep our focus on Him.”
Her audiobook drops Tuesday, September 19.
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