Many celebrities with children try to keep their family lives private and out of the public eye. They may seem to have luxurious lifestyles and jobs, but that comes with long, grueling hours and little to no free time. Having kids is a full-time job, and so many Hollywood stars have said they don't want children.
Big Brother TV host and CBS news anchor Julie Chen found her path to parenthood and the ups and downs that come along with it. There are good and bad parts, especially when one’s life is in the spotlight.
8 Who Is Julie Chen?
Julie Chen is a famous TV personality and host known for her roles on The View and Big Brother. She’s also a news anchor and producer for CBS. She was the co-host of the daytime talk show The Talk for several years, working with a rotation of media personalities discussing headlines and current events. The show is filmed before a live studio audience in Studio City, California. She’s been hosting the American adaptation of the Dutch reality show Big Brother since 2000. The show follows a group who are living together cut-off from the outside world and competing for half a million dollars.
7 Who Is Julie’s Husband, Leslie Moonves?
Leslie Moonves is a media executive and was the chairman and CEO of the CBS Corporation from 2003 until he departed from the company. Allegations of sexual assault and abuse led to his resignation in 2018. Julie Chen married Leslie the day before Christmas Eve in 2004. She stood next to her husband throughout the scandals and gave birth to their only child, a son they named Charlie, in September 2009.
6 Who Is Charlie Moonves?
Charlie Moonves is the child of Julie and Leslie, born as a Libra on September 29th, 2009. Today, he’s twelve years old and, due to his parents, was born in the limelight. His father is a multimillionaire with an estimated $700 million net worth, and Julie has a $16 million net worth. Together as a family, they live a lavish lifestyle, and some may say that children born into a celebrity household grow up entitled. It all depends on how much time parents spend with their children and what they teach them. He plays soccer and lives in a 10,000 square-foot Beverly Hills estate with his parents.
5 The Chen Family Tension
Julie Chen opened up about her past and family expectations. Her grandmother was disappointed that Julie's father didn't have a son, which resulted in family tension. Her grandmother tried to have Julie’s father raise one of her male cousins to carry on the family name. However, Julie’s mother said no and allowed her strong daughter to carry on the name. To this day, Juile kept her maiden name and added her husband’s last name to the end, becoming Julie Chen Moonves. They named their son Charlie Moonves, but he looks like his mother and can carry the Chen family bloodline into new generations.
4 Julie Leaves 'The Talk'
Julie left The Talk with a heartfelt broadcast after her husband stepped down from his CBS executive position. She’s co-hosted the talk show for nine years since the day it first aired and refers to the cast and crew as family. She said, "Right now, I need to spend more time at home with my husband and our young son, so I've decided to leave The Talk." She tears up as she states, "to everyone behind the scenes, I send you my love, and I will miss you all very, very much." Her absence from the show caused a lot of disappointment, but she had the best intentions of freeing up time to spend with her family and raise Charlie.
3 Motherhood Is Not Overrated
Julie once told BuzzFeed, "I never wanted kids, and I never wanted to get married." She changed her tune in the early 2000s as she got married and pregnant. For the most part, she’s kept Charlie’s life out of the spotlight, but from social media posts, she’s embracing motherhood and mom life. She calls Big Brother her child as well and jokingly says, "I mean, at some point, I hope it goes on without me if I’m six feet under, and I’m not hoping for that. Or pass it on to my son, I’ve told them. That would be funny."
2 Sometimes Charlie Tries To Shun His Roots
Julie had a lot of worries about her Asian roots and look growing up, saying, "I just wanted to assimilate and look and sound like the other kids." She openly admitted to getting plastic surgery after an executive and her agent said she’d never become a news anchor due to her eyes. She had a blepharoplasty to fix her "heavy eyelids" and improve her chances of appearing on television. She said that as Charlie gets older, he is showing signs of shunning his Asian heritage. He has little interest in learning Mandarin or about his roots. Julie told Us Weekly, "I know he’ll reach a stage where he’s going to regret not learning the language and speaking it fluently from a young age. He will want to get in touch with his Chinese roots."
1 Writing Letters To Charlie
Julie started a tradition of writing letters to her son when he was one year old for him to open in the future. Julie said, "We’ll save them until he’s 21, 25, or whenever he’s mature enough to appreciate what he means to us."
Chen and her husband do not plan on spoiling Charlie with gifts and say toys are meaningless to him (probably because he already has so many). On holidays, Charlie will get letters in place of gifts as Julie said, "As his first birthday approached, I remember thinking, What are we going to do to celebrate? What do you get for a 1-year-old? Toys? Whatever. Our letters are our gift."