Update, 3:16 p.m. ET: Julie Chen says goodbye to The Talk via taped message:
WATCH:
Farewell ❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/1eOCpelor1
— Julie Chen (@JulieChen) September 18, 2018
Original story (Tuesday, 9:56 a.m. ET):
If reports are indeed correct, the ensemble cast of CBS daytime talk show The Talk is down one panelist.
According to Page Six, Julie Chen, spouse of disgraced former CBS chief Les Moonves, is departing the program.
Chen’s departure comes surfaces slightly more than a week after her husband left CBS Corp. 12 women accused Moonves of sexual harassment and intimidation in a pair of New Yorker stories published in July and earlier this month.
CNN reports Chen had made her decision to depart the program late last week, and she will address the move via a taped statement to viewers on this today’s episode.
Chen did not show up to work the day after Moonves’ firing, which took place on Sunday, Sept. 9. The following morning, The Talk co-host Sharon Osbourne said the following:
I want to say that whatever times of hardship I have had over the last 8 years, Julie has always been there for me. She has been a friend, and is someone who I admire and respect greatly. It’s very embarrassing and upsetting to have to talk about her husband, but we do because we feel it’s right.
I personally knew Les Moonves in a superficial way. It was: “Hello, how are you?” Nothing more. I know nothing about the man, other than he’s Julie’s husband, and that he was the head of the biggest network in the world and the most powerful man in TV.
I was asked a couple of months ago to make a statement supporting Leslie, which I felt I was as diplomatic as I could be with the statement that I made.
But now after seven more women have come out, the stories are so similar, the pattern is so similar that for me, it’s — he’s not been convicted of any crime, but obviously the man has a problem. I like to say that Mr. Moonves to step down and Mr. Moonves is an extremely wealthy man and good luck to him for being a wealthy man. He has worked hard. He made this network number one. However, when a new regime comes into a company, we all know they sweep clean. Everybody here at CBS is nervous about their jobs. Yes, the ladies at this table will go on and we’ll probably find another show if our show, please god, it’s not taken off, we’ll always find another job and nobody is, you know, in that position yet. It’s just historically when somebody new comes in, things change. I care about the producers. I care about the crew. I care about as Mr. Moonves would say, the little people and that’s who I care about.
It’s unknown if the former CBS News’ Early Show co-host will depart Big Brother, the other CBS show she hosts. The current season of BB ends next Wednesday, and Chen did continue to host the show last week, even pointedly signing off from Wednesday’s episode as “Julie Chen Moonves.”