Julie Chen Moonves Reveals Two Co-Hosts Forced Her To Leave The Talk _ E! News
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00:00 All of the votes are in.
00:02 Let's give the news to the house guests.
00:05 By a vote of eight to one, Izzy,
00:09 you are evicted from the Big Brother house.
00:11 She's an Emmy winning news journalist
00:15 and one of the longest running hosts in TV history,
00:18 celebrating 25 seasons of Big Brother.
00:21 And today she released her much anticipated audio memoir,
00:24 but first God, where she revisits pivotal moments
00:27 in her personal life and her career.
00:30 Julie Chen Moonves, welcome back.
00:32 - Welcome back. - Thank you for having me back.
00:35 - Okay, I just saw that clip right there
00:36 and I had to ask, obviously this season of Big Brother
00:39 has had more twists and turns than ever.
00:41 So I need to know, who are you rooting for?
00:43 - My ideal final two would be Sari and Matt.
00:48 And I'm happy with either one of them winning.
00:51 I mean, Sari's kind of, you know, been running that house.
00:54 Can she take it to the end?
00:55 And I really like both her and Matt.
00:58 - I really do love that show. - I love that.
01:00 - But I also love that now you have this audio memoir
01:04 and you are going and not leaving anything on the table.
01:08 And you talk about your 2018 exit from the talk
01:11 that was kind of abrupt and fans were up in arms.
01:14 What happened?
01:16 - I never revealed it before, but in the audio memoir,
01:20 I talk about how, you know,
01:23 when I gave that public statement, I said, you know,
01:26 I've decided to leave.
01:27 It was actually decided for me by two former co-hosts
01:32 who said that if I came back for season nine,
01:38 that they wouldn't be there.
01:41 So I had to leave.
01:44 And that was, yeah. - Wow.
01:46 - It's one thing if you feel like you've had the rug
01:49 pulled out from under you.
01:51 It's another thing when you have it done by people
01:55 that you were so close to and you consider friends.
01:58 So that was a hard time.
01:59 But the good news is when you fall down and you look up,
02:03 whose hand is extended?
02:05 - God's hand. - God.
02:06 - I mean, it was all of those events, you know,
02:10 that led me to start a relationship with God
02:13 after 48 years of ignoring him.
02:15 I mean, so I'm actually very thankful.
02:18 You know, if that didn't happen,
02:20 I think I'd just be working my busy little life,
02:23 you know, with my false idol, my career.
02:25 - Yeah, showing up every day.
02:27 - That's so wild though, how it takes those things
02:29 to happen and crazy enough in your memoir,
02:31 you actually say that it wasn't the first time
02:33 that you were actually trying to get pushed out of the show.
02:36 Who else wanted you off the show?
02:38 - Well, season one, you know, for any show,
02:41 there's a lot of growing pains.
02:45 And I had gone on vacation and only to come back
02:48 to a very icy room to find out that while I was gone,
02:53 there was a movement and part of that movement
02:58 was someone that I was the closest to on the show,
03:00 which was Leah Remini.
03:01 - Wow.
03:02 - Leah Remini and I, you know,
03:04 we had gone on vacation together.
03:06 So, you know, ultimately she and someone else
03:11 went to the network and said, you know,
03:15 "Her or us next season."
03:17 And the decision was made that I would come back
03:20 and she didn't get her contract picked up.
03:24 So we didn't speak for eight years.
03:25 I even ran into her and she tried to apologize.
03:28 And I was so foolish and hard-hearted and stubborn.
03:33 And it took my personal relationship with God,
03:39 knowing God and knowing the power of forgiveness
03:42 that I reached out to her, but it was God's hands.
03:45 I was at a party where her husband was-
03:50 - Angelo.
03:51 - Yeah, Angelo, he's a band leader, you know?
03:53 And he was singing and we saw him up on stage
03:55 and we talked and, you know, I said,
03:58 "Let's take a selfie for Leah."
04:00 And then I called her and now we laugh.
04:04 We're closer than ever now,
04:06 but it was like eight years of my foolishness
04:09 that were wasted.
04:10 - I don't know, I'm a Scorpio.
04:11 I can hold on to some things,
04:13 especially when it comes to my money.
04:14 - You know, but crazy enough, I was looking at the title
04:17 and I'm like, "Wow, 'Butt First God'."
04:19 And now that I'm hearing you say all these stories,
04:20 I'm like, "Ah, I get it and I love that."
04:23 - I really do.
04:24 Now, you also openly have spoke out,
04:26 you know, very candidly about some cosmetic surgery
04:29 that you had early on in your career,
04:32 but you tried to keep a more recent procedure a secret
04:35 and that didn't go as planned.
04:38 What happened?
04:39 What did you have done?
04:40 And why'd you try to keep it a secret?
04:42 - Okay, so I leave the talk.
04:44 I have a lot more free time on my hands.
04:45 I'm only doing Big Brother.
04:47 And I decide, you know, before I turn 50,
04:49 I wouldn't mind, you know,
04:50 getting some preventative work done,
04:53 a rejuvenation, also known as a facelift.
04:56 (laughing)
04:57 - You did the real, I love that.
04:59 - I do live in Beverly Hills and you know,
05:01 gravity usually wins, you know, can't fight that.
05:05 So I had this lower facelift done
05:08 and I had an allergic reaction to this ointment.
05:12 So I had to go to the hospital and you know,
05:15 I don't care, I have bandages on,
05:17 no, unrecognizable, no one is gonna know it's me.
05:20 So I go to the hospital to go get this, you know,
05:24 reaction checked out and I'm thinking,
05:26 I can deny that's me, who is gonna know?
05:29 (laughing)
05:29 But--
05:30 - The photo.
05:31 - How will they know?
05:32 - How will they know?
05:33 You know why?
05:34 'Cause silly me, foolish me, had a handbag
05:37 with my monogram, JCM, on the outside of it.
05:41 So there was no denying that that was me.
05:45 - I love this about you, the fact that they're putting
05:47 these pictures up here and you're looking at them
05:49 and you're like, and that was me.
05:52 But again, you called this book, But First, God
05:55 and you actually said that you ignored him for 48 years.
05:59 So obviously, this was a huge change.
06:01 Why create this book now with this title?
06:04 - Because once--
06:06 - This memoir.
06:06 - This memoir, because right, this audio original.
06:09 - Yes, I love, we just talked about this.
06:11 - Yes, it's not in book form.
06:13 It's only something you can buy on CD or download it
06:17 wherever audio books are sold.
06:18 Because once I found God, I found out,
06:23 oh, not only did he create all of us to glorify him
06:27 and have a personal relationship with him,
06:29 he must come first.
06:30 That is the greatest commandment.
06:32 It's in the Bible, it's all over the Bible.
06:33 It's in Deuteronomy, it's in the New Testament,
06:35 it's Old Testament.
06:36 You have to love God first and foremost
06:38 with all your heart, mind, and soul.
06:41 But right behind that, we have to love one another.
06:44 So I came out with it now because once I found him,
06:47 I became a new person.
06:50 I had forgiveness in my heart, what?
06:52 Peace in my life, faith, hope.
06:55 You know, anything that comes my way,
06:58 I know I'm not alone because he's fighting my battles
07:02 for me and he's protecting me.
07:03 And there's a reason for everything.
07:05 It's about his will, not my own.
07:07 So I want everyone to experience the peace
07:10 and hope and faith and love and understanding
07:13 that I have gained as a result of my personal relationship
07:17 with God, putting him first, always.
07:19 Run everything past him first.
07:22 - I'm blown away by this.
07:23 - When I tell you that I truly believe
07:24 your transparency of your relationship with God
07:27 is going to change people's lives,
07:28 just hearing you talk right now,
07:30 me and Justin are gonna talk about this later.
07:31 We're about to get our lives right with Christ.
07:33 - And then let me know where to go get this right too
07:35 because you're looking real good right now.
07:37 - It is always a pleasure chatting with you.
07:41 But First God is available now
07:42 wherever you get your audio books.
07:44 New episodes of Big Brother air every Wednesday,
07:47 Thursday and Sunday night on CBS
07:49 and stream on Paramount Plus.
07:51 (upbeat music)
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