Broadcasting legend Charlie Gibson retired from ABC News in December 2009 after over
35 years in the business. If you've been wondering what the former newscaster has been up to
over the last decade, here's what really happened to Charlie Gibson.
While cruising is a common method of travel for seniors, it is not common for many seniors
to cruise the way Charlie Gibson does! In 2020, the retired news anchor told "The Boston
Globe" that the Regent line, known for its luxurious accommodations and high price tag,
is his and wife Arlene Gibson's favorite.
"My wife and I are frequent cruisers — particularly on the Regent line. I cherish the sea days
just sitting on a balcony looking at the water. I feel totally at peace. Cruises aren’t
cheap, but the memories are worth every penny. For everything else, there’s MasterCard."
From sailing the high seas in style to watching the tide roll by, Charlie Gibson seems to
have developed an affinity for coastal life in his golden years. Maybe it has something
to do with his briefly-held former profession: Next TV reports Gibson did a "short stint
in the Coast Guard" prior to his newscasting days. The former anchorman told The Boston
Globe that he enjoys the, quote "very simple, peaceful, and slow-paced" Cape Cod lifestyle.
So, Gibson and his wife, Arlene, tend to split their time between Manhattan and their vacation
home in North Falmouth, Mass., which they purchased in 1991.
The Gibsons also previously spent time at their ellipse-shaped 8,507-square-foot ski
chalet in Park City, Utah,, but Realtor.com reports they put it on the market in 2018.
Since retiring over a decade ago, Charlie Gibson has returned for several guest appearances
on the morning show he once anchored. During his April 2017 Good Morning America visit,
for example, Gibson briefly reunited with former co-host Robin Roberts, as well as co-hosts
Michael Strahan, George Stephanopoulos, and Lara Spencer.
At first, Gibson was seated in the audience, and it took some coaxing to get him on stage.
After a short back and forth with Roberts, Gibson was compelled to join the GMA team
at the table when the studio audience began chanting, "Charlie! Charlie! Charlie!" While
they did take Charlie on a short "walk down memory lane" with a montage of clips from
his time at GMA, the reason for Gibson's visit was, of all things, a recipe he had created
that rose to No. 1 on the GMA website. Gibson quipped,
"It is so reassuring to know that my legacy on this show is a taco casserole."
Of course, Gibson's returns to GMA aren't too surprising, considering he had this to
say during a Lincoln Center celebration of his 35-year career in 2009:
"I lucked into the best team game outside of sports. You can't forget how important
it is what we do ... I have loved every damn day of it."
If Charlie Gibson's favorite GMA guest is any indication, he was born to be a father
and grandfather. During his April 2017 GMA appearance, he said,
"When I left, they asked me, 'Of all the guests that you've had on the program... who would
you like to have back?"
"What'd you say?"
"Kermit the Frog."
However, the retiree's one complaint about life is that his daughters, Jessica and Kate,
as well as his grandchildren, are scattered across the country in Seattle and Minneapolis.
So, when Robin Roberts asked Gibson how life was going in his retirement, he responded
that life was terrific, but that he was disappointed by how far away his grandchildren lived.
But it turns out Gibson prioritizing family time isn't anything new. During Gibson's 2009
retirement celebration, his youngest daughter Kate said,
"I am very proud of my father, and not just for what he has accomplished with his work,
which we celebrate tonight. I am proud of my father the good listener, my father the
people person, my father the hard worker, and my father who is filled with both humility
and courage."
She sweetly added,
"If he had just a few of those traits he would be a good man, but he has all of them and
he is a great man."
When Charlie Gibson retired, ABC News President David Westin wrote in an email to the press,
quote, "We owe him much for the leadership he gave us when we needed it most." Indeed,
from Congressional reporter to hosting primetime specials to anchoring Good Morning America
and World News Tonight, Gibson was a fixture at ABC News in a variety of roles for decades.
Whenever the network needed rescuing, Gibson was there. As his former GMA co-host, Joan
Lunden, revealed on Oprah: Where Are They Now?, she and Gibson were both pushed out
of the program in the late '90s due to ageism:
"They replaced both of us with ... a 30-year-old version of each of us, and it didn't work."
The New York Times reported that ratings plummeted with new hosts Kevin Newman and Lisa McRee,
so ABC News brought Gibson back alongside new co-host Diane Sawyer. These two also swooped
to the rescue in 2006 to take turns anchoring the evening news when former World News Tonight
anchor Bob Woodruff was injured by a roadside bomb while on location in Iraq, leaving the
program anchorless. Gibson was ultimately named Woodruff's permanent replacement, and
Sawyer fittingly succeeded Gibson when he retired.
It's no wonder, then, why Gibson was very well compensated for his efforts. According
to Celebrity Net Worth, his GMA salary rose to as high as $7 million per year, giving
him an estimated net worth of more than $50 million.
One of Gibson's first wildlife segments on GMA was memorable. As zoologist Jack Hanna
tells it in his memoir,
"About thirty seconds before our cue to go on ... I handed Charlie the fox, and it bit
him hard on the index finger."
Gibson, of course, was a total pro, wrapping his finger with a handkerchief before continuing
with the interview as if nothing had happened. That experience doesn't seem to have dulled
Gibson's love of seeing wildlife, however.
While speaking with The Boston Globe in 2020, Gibson revealed that he and wife Arlene, quote,
"have fallen in love with sub-Saharan Africa and have been on safari four times in three
countries in the last six years."
Gibson clearly developed an affinity for Africa a long time ago, though. During an August
2015 Q&A session at Harvard University, he said,
"If you showed people a map of Africa, I'll bet you not one out of 100 people could tell
you what country is Uganda on that map. It's shameful in many respects. It's also a reflection
of the fact that when Americans study geography in schools, they study geography of areas
that are white. And Africa sort of gets lumped together."
He added,
"News from that continent is probably less reported, I guess, than any other continent
in the world. And it's just — I don't know how to excuse it."
Charlie Gibson got a look at the entertainment industry from a new perspective in 2016 as
an actor. Netflix binge-watchers may recall the time Gibson played a version of himself
in a season 4 episode of "House of Cards."
In the episode, President Frank Underwood had just been shot and Gibson speaks to the
world about the assassination attempt.
"This is a difficult moment for the country. It is not the first time that a president
has been shot, in my lifetime or in many of yours."
The line was a clear reference to John Hinkley's 1981 attempt to assassinate former President
Ronald Reagan, whose presidency Gibson covered in real life for ABC News.
Though he's no longer reporting the news on television, Gibson still makes some televised
appearances. In 2018, he appeared in the TV documentary, Billy Graham: An Extraordinary
Journey, which detailed Graham's rise to fame as a religious leader from his roots as the
son of a dairy farmer.
Gibson is a speaker for hire, as well. Speaker.com touts his availability for all sorts of public
speaking engagements, though his fee is not publicly disclosed. A video of Gibson speaking
about homelessness, and another featuring a Princeton University commencement speech,
are posted in his profile. In addition to in-person gigs, Gibson is all about helming
pandemic-friendly virtual events. Leading up to the 2020 presidential election, for
example, he hosted the Kennedy Center's "Political Polling: History and Trends" forum.
However, Gibson lending his newscaster expertise to various mediums isn't totally surprising.
As he said during a conversation at the JFK Library in 2018,
"We are in a totally revolutionary time in what journalism is ... We need serious journalism
now more than ever. But the traditional means by which news is delivered is changing."
In 2015, Charlie Gibson appeared on Good Morning America's 40th reunion special and admitted
to being terribly nervous when he first started anchoring the show.
"I was scared to death. I remember, you get the homework, you get the packets, and I was
reading those [research] packets, every word, until about 1 o'clock in the morning."
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Gibson has always been a voracious
reader, and was even invited to share his 2009 summer reading list on CSPAN2's Book
TV. When The Boston Globe asked Gibson what he won't leave home without as he travels
in 2020, he said his Kindle. The retired newscaster revealed,
"That invention has changed the entire experience of reading while traveling,"
Thankfully, reading for pleasure is far less stressful than prepping for interviews, and
after the long and successful news career Gibson has had, escaping into a good book
on the deck of a cruise ship seems like the perfect way to spend his autumn years.
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