Les Moonves and Julie Cheen Moonves in 2017.Photo:Zach Hilty/BFA/Shutterstock
Zach Hilty/BFA/Shutterstock
Chen Moonves tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue: “I never took his last name when he was running the media company where I was working, where it could be intimidating. It kind of felt obnoxious, but legally, I was ‘Julie Chen Moonves,’ and I thought, ‘OK, now that name isn’t so hot, this is when I take it.’”
Monty Brinton/CBS via Getty
At the time, Chen Moonves thought her hiatus fromThe Talkwould only last a few days or weeks.
“But then when I watched the [season] premiere and I saw what was said, it became so clear to me like,I can never go back,” she recalls. “It was like watching my funeral.”
Chen Moonves badly wanted her personal life to stop making headlines.
“There were just too many rumors about me moving out and me leaving my family. It was so not true,” she says. “They had pictures of moving boxes, but it was like, we were moving back into our house because we had done some work [on] it. I just wanted all the speculation and the false reports to end.”
Matthew Simmons/FilmMagic
During that tough period, Chen Moonves developed a relationship with God. But she credits her resilient connection with Moonves, rather than God, for carrying them through that time. (Last November, Moonves had to pay $2.5 million to CBS stockholders whom New York state Attorney GeneralLetitia Jamesbelieved were kept in the dark initially about the allegations against him — though he never admitted any wrongdoing.)
“We have such a strong bond,” says Chen Moonves. “We leaned on each other and we knew that nothing could break us. It was our love and our foundation that got us through.”
Chen Moonves continued hostingBig Brotherbecause “it’s not a show where you’re delving into your personal life,” she explains. “It’s not about me, it’s about the house guests, and I’m just the facilitator.”
For more on Julie Chen Moonves, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribehere.
Julie Chen Moonves’s audio memoir, ‘But First, God’.Simon & Schuster Audio Originals
Simon & Schuster Audio Originals
While Chen Moonves says in her audio memoir “I was collateral damage” for her husband’s mistakes, she reveals that her issues onThe Talkpredated 2018. She felt betrayed when her co-hostLeah Reminiand some other colleagues went to CBS and told the network they wouldn’t work with Chen Moonves because they found her to be too uptight. As a result, Chen Moonves iced out Remini, 53, for years.
“At the time, it felt like a betrayal,” Chen Moonves says.
Chen Moonves admits that Remini apologized one year later, but the mom of 13-year-old son Charlie didn’t feel ready to reconnect until she began her walk with God.
“She has such a big heart,” Chen Moonves says of theKing of Queensstar. “She’s one of the funniest people I know and she’s very passionate in her beliefs. She is a good person.”
Chen Moonves, who got baptized in 2022 and now belongs to five churches, believes that her story serves as proof that “it is never too late for anyone to start a personal relationship with God,” she says. “Once you do, you’ll have peace that transcends all understanding. You’re not alone.”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
But First, Godis out now wherever books are sold.
source: people.com
