- Hi, I'm Sunny Hostin, and I am In Studio
with The Hollywood Reporter.
(upbeat music)
- You have a new show coming out very soon.
- I do.
- "The Truth About Murder" with Sunny Hostin
- Yes!
- On Investigation Discovery.
- Yes.
- I saw the first episode and I've gotta tell you,
it was so captivating.
- Thank you. - And it seems like
you've really put a lot of heart and soul into this, right?
- I did, I am so proud of it,
and I'm so excited about it
because I'm not only the host, I'm an executive producer,
and it's the first time I've actually
done anything like this, you know, been able to
have my point of view and I really wanted
to give voice to the voiceless
because it's something that's very important to me
and personal, in the sense that,
I saw my uncle stabbed in front o' me
when I was about seven.
And what I remember the most about it is
that I saw so much violence, but no one dared talk about it.
We didn't talk about it in our family.
I didn't tell any of my friends that I saw it.
It wasn't like we had money for therapy
or anything like that, and even recently,
I said to my dad, you know,
I often think about that, what happened with Uncle Ed,
and he's like, you think about it?
I didn't even think you remembered it, you know,
and so, I remember thinking,
when I was collaborating with ID,
I wanna tell those stories, the stories
that no one talks about, the folks
that don't have the money for therapy,
the folks that are keeping it inside.
And let's go through the journey.
How do you go from crime to conviction?
What does it do, not necessarily to,
I don't wanna get into the killer's mind
because a lot of people do that.
I wanna talk to the victim's families.
I wanna talk to the cops.
I wanna talk to the prosecutors.
I wanna talk to the community members
that are deeply deeply affected by what happens
when there is a heinous heinous crime
that happens right next door because, think about it.
Something happens right next door to you,
you're thinking, is it gonna happen to me next?
- Right.
- Is this where I wanna live anymore?
What's going on with humanity?
And so, that's sort of the journey that I went on, you know,
for six months, every single weekend, and I cried a lot.
- Yeah, how emotional that must have been for you.
- It really was.
I called my husband, you know, after every shoot,
and he was like, you sound weird.
And I'm like, yeah, I've been crying.
- I had a weird day
- Yeah, he's like, you're crying during the interviews?
I was like, yeah, because, in some sense,
it was cathartic because I felt like
every single person said,
"Thanks for letting me tell my story."
- Yeah.
- And I thought, oh wow, well, thanks
for honoring me by sharing it. - That must have
meant so much.
- You know, because it's hard for victims to say,
- For sure.
- To share, but it was hard,
harder than I thought it would be
because I was a prosecutor for a pretty long time,
but this felt different.
I don't know, I was sort of
in their space in a different way.
- Like you said, what's really interesting
about this series is that it really does
come from the victim's perspective
and the perspective of the family members
and the loved ones.
What made you want to take that approach
in today's entertainment landscape
that is so obsessed with true crime,
but a little bit more consumed with
the darker sides of true crime?
- Yeah, and to be sure, it is kinda dark, in a sense,
because it's painful when you hear the stories,
like Gloria's story, where she's saying, you know,
she comes home and they wouldn't let her in,
and so, she knew, in her heart,
something happened to her daughter,
but I am, I didn't want to exploit anyone's pain,
but I was a little tired of, why did he kill her
and let's get into the mind of this person.
I wanted to explore, like, what is Gloria thinking,
that she's never going to get to see her kid again.
How does she move on?
What happens to Christine, that she's gotta now survive
after having a bullet in her head?
You know, that was more interesting to me.
You know, how do people survive
when this kinda thing happens to them?
I wanted to show the resilience of our citizens
because we're going through tough times in our country.
- Facts.
- Yeah. (laughs)
- And I thought, let's explore that.
- Yeah, yeah, I really like the way it came across.
- Thank you.
- The series is six parts.
- Yes.
- How did you narrow down which murders
you wanted to tackle?
The first episode revolves around a woman
who is also a person of color.
So, I'm wondering if, inclusivity was closely considered
as you were putting together--
- Yes, Evan. - the story.
Yeah, okay?
- It was really important to me
to be sure, you know, celebrity-driven things,
we see that in the news all the time, right,
so you think about the Varsity scandal
and any kind of murder that involves sort of a celebrity,
people, you know, flock to.
I wanted to talk about people of color.
I wanted to talk about women.
I wanted to explore the LGBTQ community,
and I looked for cases like that
because those stories are too often not told.
- Okay.
- And I looked for them.
They were everywhere.
- So it must have been hard - Everywhere!
- to narrow it down to six.
- It was really difficult, but I think
we found the most compelling
and those that were not told.
Another thing that was driving me was,
so many women are harmed in our country
and all over the world by people who they think love them.
And more often than not, you know,
we are taught as little girls and even as we get older,
stranger danger, you know,
be careful when you're going out.
Someone's gonna, you know, just grab you
and we explore that too in our show,
more of a hate crime angle there,
but that happens, but more frequently,
it's by someone that knows you that you think loves you.
And I picked a lot of those cases as well.
- Well, it's clear that your background
as a federal prosecutor really
gives you a singular perspective
to lead this show and--
- Yeah.
- How do the murders that you explored in the show,
how do they stack up to the cases
that you've dealt with throughout your career
'cause I know you specialize in child sex crimes.
- Child sex crimes, yeah.
- So, were you shocked by anything,
by digging more into the murder side of crimes?
- I was surprised by the planning.
That's what surprised me the most.
I dealt certainly with predators that planned,
so that was similar, but what was surprising to me
was, these murderers always seemed to think
that they were the smartest in the room.
And I experience that a little bit, no question,
but this took it to another level.
What also surprised me was the use of technology
'cause I don't want to age myself,
but when I was prosecuting cases,
it was more rudimentary, right?
We didn't have some of the technology.
Murderers, in our cases, were trying to use technology
to their benefit, and in many instances, they did,
and they almost got away with murder.
They were able to cover the murders using technology.
Simple things like cell phones, they had, you know,
probably googled how to hide their crimes
and, you know, mapped out where the cell towers were.
So it was fascinating. - Isn't that insane?
- Just fascinating to me. - Yeah.
- And it just takes one little slip-up,
- Yes.
- for the case to be solved which
we're always hoping for, but
if those slip-ups, - 'Cause they're never
the smartest person in the room.
- Right, exactly. - They think they are,
but they're not.
There's always a crack - They're not.
in the plan somewhere. - They're not.
(laughter)
- On the view, you're known for telling it like it is,
for saying what everyone is thinking,
but you're also known for having the ability
to have anyone and everyone just open up to you,
and for being so empathetic,
and we obviously see that on the series as well
when you're talking to the families
and loved ones of the victims, with first responders,
everyone involved in the case.
So, how is filming an episode of "The Truth About Murder"
different than filming an episode of "The view"?
I'm sure there's a lot o' differences,
but also probably some overlap
since, on both projects, you're just
so authentically Sunny.
- Yeah, well, I don't get interrupted as much on
"Truth About Murder", so certainly
that was different. (laughs)
I think the skill set helped both, right?
I try to be pretty even-handed most of the time,
and I always think, my mantra is,
"No one does you better than you."
So I just try to just do me and be myself,
and I think viewers get that from me, right.
And I think the folks that I interviewed got that.
What you see is what you get.
I'm not an actress, I'm not an actor.
I just put it out there, and I think it's served me well.
It served me well when I was a prosecutor, you know.
I was one of those folks that just
would knock on the door and say,
"Come on, I've sent you how many subpoenas
and you won't show up to my office, let's talk."
You know, I don't wanna send the marshals out.
What's goin' on?
And I kinda just do that on the show,
and I do that on this series as well.
- What have you learned about handling personal conflict?
I feel like you guys are just experts at it.
- Yeah, we get better and better actually.
I think, not to take anything personally, is the best thing.
And when you leave the table, you have to try
to leave it at the table.
It doesn't always work for us because we're so passionate,
and we're in such difficult times right now,
and we're passionate about how we feel about it
because it just feels like end of days
for all of us at the table, at least.
So, what we try to do or, at least, what I try to do,
and I think I can speak for my co-hosts is,
we leave it at the table
and know that we can pick it up again.
- Mm hmm.
- And we try to leave as friends.
And we don't try to change each other's minds
'cause it's not really about that.
It's just about respecting everyone's opinion,
not taking it personally
and knowing that we're gonna be there again tomorrow
with the same group of people.
- Right.
- So you can't burn a bridge and you can't be offended
or be offensive because you got
to come to work the next day.
- Right.
- And that's how we do it.
It's just, it's like a dysfunctional family.
That's how I think about it, you know. (laughs)
You're still gonna be related to that person.
So, you don't wanna say something
that you can never take back.
And sometimes, we, like, we really get into it
and we're angry, you know, and we throw 'em off,
and we say things to each other backstage,
and then, you know, we'll say, "Sorry about that, girl."
- (laughs) Who would you say
your favorite sparring partner is on the show and why?
- It depends on the day, to be honest with you.
I've sparred with all of them on stage and off.
- Yeah?
- Yeah, it depends on the day
because we're all passionate about different things
and we all feel differently about the same issue,
believe it or not.
So, it just depends, like, I've sparred with all of them,
believe it or not, and I think you would probably
get the same answer 'cause, Joy may be Meghan's
favorite sparring partner right now,
but they weren't favorites before, right?
- But it shifts, okay. - So it really,
it just depends, it depends on the issue,
and that's what makes it fun, right?
That's what makes it fun, I think.
- Yeah, for sure, it's very fun to watch.
- I know, (laughs) most of the time.
I think it was Barbara Walters' vision.
You get five really passionate, smart, engaging people
that have a bit of a sense of humor,
and put them at the table together.
- Right.
- And you talk.
- Yeah, what I love about the show is that,
even though there are so many different opinions and views,
it's become a really important stop
for presidential hopefuls.
You've had so many - Unbelievable.
- different candidates come on the show this year alone.
- Unbelievable. - Biden, Mayor Pete,
Kamala Harris, before she announced her candidacy.
- Yes.
- So...
- And after, she came after as well.
- Yeah, which candidate has impressed you the most
as a guest co-host, just based on their time on the show?
- Gosh, I've always been very impressed with Mayor Pete.
I just think he's wicked smart.
I have found him very impressive.
Elizabeth Warren has been very impressive.
She gets better and better every time she comes,
which is interesting to me.
Kamala, when she came back the second time,
there was this interesting feeling in the audience.
It was different than,
- The first time.
- the first time.
So, those three so far have been the ones
that have stood out to me.
- And why do you think it is an important stop
on campaigns now?
- Well, we have 3 million viewers.
We skew heavily female.
Our viewers are voters.
They listen to what we say.
The New York Times says we're the most important
political show in America.
I think that is true.
From each one of us, you will get the perspective
of a different voter, and I think political candidates
understand that, and they also understand
that if they come on our show,
we ask the difficult questions.
No one gets a pass, you know.
I'm going to cross-examine someone
from a legal perspective.
Joy is the comedian who's brilliant and
who is, you know, gonna cut you off at the knees
and you don't even know that it's coming.
You have Meghan and Abby who are from political families
and so, they sort of have an insider perspective
that we don't have, and then you have Whoopi Goldberg,
who has this kind of, you know, sense of things
because she knows folks from
all over the political spectrum.
So you're gonna get a little bit of everything from us,
and bottom line is, our viewers vote and listen to us.
- Mm hmm, for sure.
- So there's a tremendous reach there
and you cannot run for president of the United States
and not come on our show.
And you really can't be a political player
and not come on our show
because we have Republicans and Democrats,
just politicians, not even running, that come on the show.
- Don't you love it?
I love that "The View" - I love it!
- has became that.
- It is the place to be.
It's the place to be.
- Yeah.
- It's the place to be, and the new show to watch
is - It is!
"The Truth About Murder" with Sunny Hostin,
premiering October 22nd on Investigation Discovery.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Thank you so much for being here.
- Thank you, I'm so proud of it.
So, thank you for having me.
- Of course.
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