Julie Chen Moonves is revealing how she and former The Talk co-star Leah Remini managed to mend their relationship after a falling out on the CBS daytime show. Chen Moonves speaks candidly about the highs and lows of her relationship with Remini in her new audiobook, But First, God, revealing that she was accused of being “icy” by her co-stars, as she was tasked with moderating the show.
“I was a little uptight because I was the only one at that point who had to wear an earpiece to make sure the producers screaming at me got what they wanted,” Chen Moonves says. So when she left for vacation, Chen Moonves claims her co-hosts went to the network to demand she be replaced. “A couple of my cohosts, while I was away, went to the network and said, ‘We can’t work with Julie anymore. She’s too uptight. She’s not one of us. If she stays, we go.’ And they ended up leaving and I ended up staying,” she alleges.
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The Big Brother host called it “so hurtful and challenging” for Remini especially to go behind her back, as they became “overnight best friends” during their time on The Talk together. “We were buddies. We were, like, going on vacation together, and when she went to the network with this request, I felt betrayed,” she explained.
It was almost a decade before Chen Moonves “buried the hatchet” with Remini, explaining that her faith in Christianity and forgiveness led her to approach Remini’s husband at a party and ask for her number. “If I didn’t have Jesus in my life at that point, I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to hunt him down and say hello,” Chen Moonves explained. “I know God says to forgive. So I called her, she answered. We laughed. We buried the hatchet. And today we’re probably closer than ever. Leah did try to apologize to me a year after our friendship blew up, but I was too hard-hearted to accept it. Without faith in my life, I didn’t understand the importance of forgiveness, but the Bible tells us very clearly to forgive one another.”
Chen Moonves would exit The Talk in 2018 after her husband, Les Moonves, was fired as chairman of CBS following accusations of sexual assault from multiple women. Moonves has denied the allegations against him and his wife has stood by his side. In her audiobook, Chen Moonves revealed more about the circumstances surrounding her exit.
“Two of my cohosts called the powers at CBS and said, ‘If Julie shows up to work tomorrow, we’re not coming in.’ So, I was basically told, ‘Please don’t come back to work anymore,’” she claimed. “After my husband and I left our jobs, I was a ball of mixed emotions and at the top of the list I was angry, I was frustrated, I felt robbed, and I felt wronged. I felt like so many people that I loved and trusted or thought were friends … wow, they did me so dirty.”
