It’s official. As we reported earlier today, Julie Chen is stepping down from “The Talk” on CBS, one week after her CBS CEO husband Les Moonves left his job facing a dozen sexual assault accusations.
Chen’s decision is effective immediately.
She will address the decision through a videotaped message to viewers on Tuesday’s episode.
She will continue to host the CBS reality show “Big Brother” through the season finale on September 26.
When Moonves, the powerful chairman and CEO of CBS, was accused of sexual misconduct in the pages of The New Yorker in late July, Chen publicly supported her husband and said she would only issue one statement on the topic.
There has been speculation that Chen will leave CBS immediately following the season finale of Big Brother.
Julie Chen remains one of the best broadcasters of modern times. Before she took the advice of Moonves and headed to the entertainment division, she was the highly qualified and credible anchor of the CBS Morning News. She is one of the best interviewers on television.
But her time at CBS, so tightly linked to her husband the past two decades, is coming to an end.