Through thick and thin, media power couple Julie Chen and Les Moonves have been going
strong since they began dating back in 2003.
Despite an employee-employer relationship, a huge age gap, and high-profile scandal,
these two are proof that you can have it all - for a while, at least.
Moonves and Chen started dating in 2003 and married in Acapulco, Mexico the next year
— but that didn't sit well with Nancy Wiesenfeld, Moonves' estranged wife of 24 years.
Although she filed for divorce in 2003, Moonves cut the process short and convinced a judge
to immediately grant the divorce, reportedly out of an eagerness to return to the life
of a single man.
Wiesenfeld claimed the way her marriage ended was, quote, "not moral."
As she described the situation to the New York Daily News,
"I felt that everybody knew about what was going on [between Moonves and Chen].
And everybody did know.
Except me."
She also told the publication that she's never met Chen, adding, quote, "I hope to God I
never will."
In 2017, CBS announced it would be getting into the business of Celebrity Big Brother,
producing its own version 16 years after the U.K. original hit the airwaves.
As the host of the regular Big Brother show, Chen seemed like the obvious choice to host
the celeb spin-off.
However, since the new iteration had a significantly shorter television season than its counterpart,
Moonves mandated that Chen's compensation be significantly less as well.
Chen told The Hollywood Reporter that Moonves was uncompromising about the decision.
As she described it, he told her in no uncertain terms to inform her lawyer that the reduced
salary was not up for negotiation.
According to her, he said,
"This is what the deal is and you're going to accept it."
We can assume Moonves knew Chen's lawyer wouldn't put up much of a fight.
Why's that?
Because Chen's lawyer at the time was Jon Moonves - her husband's brother.
CBS launched the daytime talk show The Talk in 2010 as its answer to The View, but behind-the-scenes
drama nearly crippled it from the start.
Hosted by Chen, the original panel included Sara Gilbert, Holly Robinson Peete, Leah Remini,
and Sharon Osbourne.
That lineup didn't last long, though.
Remini was not asked back for a second installment of the series, and two days before the season
2 premiere, Peete was fired.
Rumors swirled about Chen having a hand in those terminations.
According to inside sources who spoke to the New York Post, the Emmy-winning show was more
like, quote, "the Les Moonves show starring his annoying wife."
The most surprising lineup change occurred in September 2018 - and Moonves definitely
had a hand in that one.
Chen quit the show amid a cloud of sexual assault allegations against her husband which
seemed to reveal a pattern of predatory behavior going back decades.
Moonves was forced out of his role as chairman and CEO at CBS following a number of sexual
assault allegations, with the behavior allegedly running the course of his whole career in
entertainment.
According to Variety, Moonves reached a settlement with the network that kept the results of
an internal investigation confidential.
For her part, Chen stepped away from her role hosting The Talk - which is probably for the
best, considering the talk frequently turned to her husband, and his alleged misdeeds.
Co-host Sharon Osbourne said on the show:
"It's very embarrassing and upsetting to have to talk about her husband, but we do, we feel
it's right."
"He’s not been convicted of any crime, but obviously the man has a problem.”
Some took Chen's stated intent of leaving to focus on her family at face value, while
others suspected she left to sidestep the controversy.
She was also criticized for taking her husband's side amidst the allegations.
"But they can't talk about anything that’s related to relationships unless Julie Chen
Moonves comes clean.”
Don't think you've heard the last from this powerful couple.
Chen has said in a statement that she's sticking by Moonves, writing on Twitter,
"Leslie is a good man and a loving father, devoted husband and inspiring corporate leader.
He has always been a kind, decent and moral human being."
While Moonves was forced to give up his title, he hasn't necessarily lost his influence.
Though he's technically no longer the top executive at CBS, it was reported in September
2018 that he could remain in CBS' orbit as an unpaid advisor as part of his termination
agreement.
In the aftermath of the accusations, Moonves and CBS agreed to give $20 million to causes
supporting the #MeToo movement.
Despite this, Moonves maintains his innocence.
He issued a statement characterizing the accusations as, quote, "untrue allegations from decades
ago".
Chen's stance of loyalty in the face of the serious charges against her husband has caused
its fair share of gossipy buzz.
But while she's been explicit about her intention to stick by her husband through statements
in the media, she's also making her loyalty known in some more subtle ways.
In her first live television appearance after her husband was forced out at CBS, the Celebrity
Big Brother host signed off from the September 13 episode using her married name - something
she had never done before over the course of the show's 20 seasons.
"From outside the Big Brother house with Brent, I'm Julie Chen Moonves.
Goodnight."
On September 19, she did it again, and she continued to do so up until the show's finale
on September 26.
Audiences can probably expect a lot more of the newly-minted Mrs. Chen Moonves on their
TV screens going forward, as the on-air personality is currently set to continue her hosting duties
at Big Brother and its Celebrity spin-off until fall 2019.
Multiple sources told Us Weekly that Chen hopes to stay on as host of the long-running
reality series indefinitely, but insiders claim the network has quietly begun gauging
the interest of potential replacements.
Rumored options for the host position include Big Brother Canada host Arisa Cox, Big Brother
winner Will Kirby, and Celebrity Big Brother runner-up Ross Mathews.
So no matter how the next seasons of the Big Brother shows go, we wouldn't be too surprised
to see Chen leave.
After all, with that new assertive surname that she's using, Julie Chen Moonves is letting
us all know where her loyalties lie.
In the quieter times before Moonves' downfall, Chen sat down on Larry King Now in 2016, where
she revealed the secret to her marriage with Moonves.
Basically, it all revolves around not arguing - or at least, not upsetting Moonves.
"Very early on my husband said to me…
‘Just know anything you say you can't take it back, so never hit below the belt.’”
Apparently, there's no negotiating around the couple's "no fighting" rule, regardless
of how vulnerable, hurt, or angry either one of them might be feeling.
According to Chen, the guideline works - as she said to Larry King, quote, "We really
don't fight."
Not that they don't want to though.
“He has learned how to count to ten backwards in his head.
He says, 'You have no idea how many times I bite my tongue.'"
From the sound of things, it seems like the couple has figured out ways to express their
anger without raising their voices.
Chen's move?
Apparently, it's the good-old-fashioned silent treatment.
"I will shut off and shut down.”
“Oh, don’t do that.”
“And he… but it works.”
As she puts it, she has no qualms about completely icing people out.
Call us crazy, but that doesn't sound like a particularly healthy relationship dynamic
- but hey, whatever works.
A long car ride with your significant other is fun - until it isn't.
Chen knows this all too well, only replace "long car ride" with "daily carpool with your
husband."
While Chen and Moonves were both officially working for CBS, sometimes Chen had to take
work calls while in the car with her husband.
It's a logistical quirk that occasionally caused some friction, with Moonves having
been not just her boss, but everyone's boss.
Whether you're bad-mouthing the higher-ups or not, it's pretty hard to talk freely when
the CEO of the entire CBS empire is listening in.
While Chen was still working as a co-host of The Talk, she occasionally prepared for
the show by participating in a conference call.
According to what she said in one interview, she had to draw a hard line to keep Moonves
from butting in on what was supposed to be relatively private work chat.
She said she told him,
"You can't weigh in, you can't talk!
Don't even let them know you're in the car!'"
But that restriction apparently didn't keep Moonves from dishing out plenty of unsolicited
advice when the calls wrapped up.
We're sure that being married to the boss has benefits - but it also means you can never
really get away from the boss.
Chen and Moonves count fellow millionaires George and Amal Clooney as two of their best
friends, with the relationship going back to the days Moonves worked with George on
ER.
They're such great pals, in fact, that Chen was the first to confirm that the Clooneys
were expecting twins.
Did she get permission to do that?
Of course not.
Apparently, that's just what friends do.
As Chen later said to Entertainment Tonight, she felt entitled to break the news thanks
to Moonves' encouragement.
Once she got the go ahead from Moonves, Chen apparently spilled the beans without so much
as a phone call to the expecting parents-to-be.