Julie Chen Makes First Red Carpet Appearance As Her Book Tour Is Canceled In Aftermath Of Les Moonves Scandal
Julie Chen is walking tall in the aftermath of her husband Les Moonves’ sexual misconduct scandal, despite the fact that she has had an alleged setback of her own. The longtime CBS star, who helmed The Talk for nine seasons, made her first red carpet appearance since she left the CBS chatfest shortly after Moonves stepped down from CBS amid scathing misconduct allegations against him.
Chen, who in September adopted her husband’s last name for the first time in her professional career during the final live episodes of Big Brother —a reality hosting gig she is reportedly keeping— appeared on a red carpet for the Women’s Guild Cedars-Sinai luncheon at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, per the Hollywood Reporter.
The gala celebrated 60 years of supporting health care, research, and innovation at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles and was hosted by Carrie Ann Inaba, who, ironically, is one of the top contenders to take Chen’s spot as a co-host on The Talk.
Julie Chen posed for photos on the red carpet but did not speak to the press. Instead, a prepared statement from Chen was given to press reporters.
“The real-life heroes of the Women’s Guild are changing countless lives through their support of innovation and research in healthcare. Their commitment to improving patient care helps makes our community stronger, provides much-needed hope to many and is an inspiration to all.”
Julie Chen has close ties to the Women’s Guild Cedars-Sinai as she was one of its honorees in 2011. The attendees of the luncheon, which included Diane Keaton and Lana Del Ray, were even given a copy of Chen’s new children’s book When I Grow Up as part of a gift bag.
.@JulieChen makes first red-carpet appearance since leaving #TheTalk https://t.co/QqsRNzimmG pic.twitter.com/oWVS88E1Zr
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) November 9, 2018
Speaking of Chen and her book, Radar Online reports that the first time children’s author has suffered the consequences of her husband’s firing from CBS. The gossip site reports (via Straight Shuter) that Chen’s previously planned press tour to promote the book has now been canceled.
“Julie was expected to come to New York to do a press tour to promote her new children’s book. Now after her husband’s sexual abuse scandal everything has been canceled.”
Chen decided to stand by her man after 12 women claimed in a New Yorker investigative report that Moonves sexually harassed them in incidents spanning three decades. Chen stepped away from her high-profile hosting gig on The Talk as her former co-hosts continued to talk freely about Moonves’ scandal. But now it seems Chen may have trouble finding a place to talk about her sweet book.
“Julie was scheduled to appear on all the CBS programs to plug her book starting with Gayle King on the morning show and ending with Stephen Colbert’s night show,” the Straight Shuter source revealed. “When you are married to the president of the network, no show on CBS passes on booking his wife. But now that he has gone, so have all Julie’s bookings.”
Last month, Chen posted photos of herself reading her book to a group of preschool students in Los Angeles.
