Julie Chen Moonves (56 years old) was born January 6, 1970, in Queens, New York City.
She is a familiar face on American TV because she has hosted Big Brother since the show began in July 2000. She is also known for her work on The Early Show and The Talk, which made her one of the best-known TV personalities at CBS.
Julie built her career as a news anchor, television host, and producer, and she later added author to that list with books including When I Grow Up and her audio memoir: But First, God.
Keep reading Julie Chen Moonves’s Wiki to know more about her life, husband, past relationship, children, parents, siblings, education, career, awards, net worth, and facts.
Julie Chen Wiki & Early Life
| Full Name | Julie Suzanne Chen Moonves |
| Profession | TV Presenter, News anchor, Producer |
| Age | (56 years old) |
| Date of Birth | January 6, 1970 |
| Nationality | American |
| Zodiac/Sun Sign | Capricorn |
| Birthplace | Queens, New York City, U.S. |
| Current Address | California |
Julie Chen Husband & Children
Julie Chen Moonves has been married to Leslie “Les” Moonves since December 23, 2004, and the couple has one son, Charlie. Julie is 20 years younger than Les.
Husband: Les Moonves
Les Moonves is a television executive who became widely known for his leadership at CBS.
Les is a former president and chief executive officer of CBS Television and later a top executive at CBS Corporation. His career in American television made him a very visible figure in the media business, separate from Julie Chen Moonves’s on-camera work as a host and news anchor.
Julie and Les Moonves were married in a private ceremony in Acapulco, Mexico, on December 23, 2004. Their marriage became one of the most talked-about media marriages of that period because both were already well known at CBS.
Children: Charlie Moonves
Julie and Moonves welcomed their son Charlie on September 24, 2009, in Los Angeles.
Charlie has mostly been kept out of the spotlight. Even so, Julie Chen Moonves has spoken about him in a few public interviews and projects.
One well-known example is her 2018 children’s book, When I Grow Up, which was dedicated to her son. That detail gives a clear picture of how important he is in her public life, even though she keeps most private family moments limited.
Past Relationships
Julie Chen Moonves’s Earlier Relationship
Before her marriage to Les Moonves, Julie Chen Moonves was engaged to her longtime boyfriend, named Gary Donahue, in the 1990s.
She started working as a news assistant at ABC News in Los Angeles in September 1991. Gary was identified as a television news editor, and the relationship later ended.
Les Moonves’s Earlier Marriage
Before marrying Julie, Les was married to Nancy Wiesenfeld Moonves.
Les and Nancy married in 1978 and had three children together, including Sara Moonves.
In April 2003, Nancy Wiesenfeld Moonves filed for divorce in Los Angeles Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences.
Les Moonves and Julie Chen began dating while he was still legally married, and the divorce process continued for more than a year because of financial issues linked to the settlement.
A court granted an early divorce on December 10, 2004, and Les Moonves married Julie Chen Moonves on December 23, 2004, in Acapulco, Mexico.
Kids from First Marriage
Sara Moonves
Sara Moonves is the most publicly known of Les Moonves’s children from that marriage. She was born on November 26, 1984 (41 years) and became a well-known magazine editor. She later became editor-in-chief of W magazine in 2019.
Adam Moonves
Adam Moonves is one of Les Moonves and Nancy Wiesenfeld’s sons.
Compared with Sara, much less verified public biographical information is widely available about Adam, so many personal and career details are yet to be updated.
Michael Moonves
Michael Moonves is also one of Les Moonves and Nancy Wiesenfeld’s sons.
Michael is Sara’s younger brother, with one source listing his birth year as 1988. Like Adam, he has kept a much lower public profile, and detailed public information about his work and personal life is yet to be updated.
After Les Moonves’s first marriage ended, he married Julie Chen on December 23, 2004. Julie and Les later had one son together, Charlie, born in 2009. That means Les Moonves has four children in total, while Julie Chen Moonves has one child, Charlie.
| Relationship Status | Married |
| Husband | Les Moonves |
| Children | Sons of Julie: Charlie Moonves Daughter of Les: Sara Moonves Sons of Les: Adam & Michael Moonves |
Julie Chen Family
Julie Chen Moonves comes from a Chinese American family and has spoken in public about the influence of her parents and sisters on her life. She was born in Queens, New York City, as the youngest daughter in the family.
Parents
Julie Chen Moonves’s father is David Chen, and her mother is Wang Ling Chen. r supported to build her career. However, her father passed away around 2020-2025.
Her parents were also part of the generation that moved to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War before immigrating to the U.S.
Siblings
Julie Chen Moonves has two older sisters, Gladys Chen and Victoria Chen.
Some finer points about their occupations and private family life are yet to be updated.
| Parent’s Name | Father: David Chen Mother: Wang Ling Chen |
| Siblings | Older sisters: Gladys Chen & Victoria Chen |
Julie Chen Education
Julie Chen Moonves studied in New York and California. She finished high school at St. Francis Preparatory School in 1987.
Later, she graduated from the University of Southern California in 1991 and earned a Bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism and English.
| School | St. Francis Preparatory School |
| Alma Mater | University of Southern California |
| Highest Qualification | Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism and English |
Julie Chen Career
Julie Chen Moonves built her career step by step, starting with newsroom support work and later becoming one of the most recognized faces on CBS.
Her career includes local reporting, network news anchoring, daytime television, and reality TV hosting. She has worked in television since the late 1980s and remains best known as the longtime host of Big Brother.
Early newsroom experience
Julie Chen Moonves started behind the scenes before she became an on-air personality. In June 1990, she worked as an intern at CBS Morning News.
After that, while still in college, she joined ABC NewsOne as a desk assistant. She later moved up to a producer role and spent the next few years learning how television news worked from inside the newsroom.
First on-air job in local news
Her first major on-air break came at WDTN-TV in Dayton, Ohio, where she worked as a reporter from 1995 to 1997. This was the stage where she shifted from production work to field reporting.
Dayton was the place where she gained real on-camera newsroom experience. It was also a hard period in her career, because she later said she faced criticism about her appearance while trying to move up in broadcast news.
Even with those challenges, this role helped her build the reporting skills that opened the door to larger stations.
Move to New York and WCBS-TV
After Dayton, Julie Chen Moonves moved to WCBS-TV in New York, where she worked as a reporter and weekend anchor from 1997 to 1999. This was an important step because it placed her in a much bigger media market.
Working in New York gave her stronger visibility inside the CBS system and helped position her for network-level roles.
By this point, she had already moved from intern to producer to local reporter and then to a major-market anchor desk.
CBS Morning News and a national breakthrough
Julie Chen Moonves reached national television when she joined CBS Morning News in 1999.
She served as an anchor there and also worked as a news anchor for CBS’s This Morning and later The Early Show. This was the stage where her name became familiar to a much wider audience across the United States.
Her work on national morning television gave her a more polished and visible public image and established her as a serious broadcast journalist, not just a local news anchor.
The Early Show years
In October 2002, she became a co-anchor of The Early Show in its four-anchor format. She stayed in that role until 2010. These years were one of the most important parts of her news career because she became one of the regular faces of CBS morning programming.
During this period, she covered major stories and built a strong reputation as a calm and steady on-air presence.
Even after stepping away from the daily co-anchor role, she remained connected to the program as a special contributing anchor until the show ended.
Big Brother and long-term TV fame
The biggest turning point in Julie Chen Moonves’s career came in July 2000, when she became the host of the American version of Big Brother on CBS.
At first, her style on the show was often described as formal and controlled, which led fans to give her the nickname “Chenbot.”
Over time, that label became part of her public image, and she even embraced it herself. What started as a reality show hosting role slowly became the most defining part of her career.
She stayed with the program year after year and became one of the most stable figures in American reality television.
The Talk and daytime television
Another major step came in 2010, when Julie Chen Moonves became a co-host and moderator of The Talk.
The show premiered on October 18, 2010, and gave her a different kind of television role. Unlike her straight-news image on CBS mornings, The Talk gave her space for opinion, conversation, and a more personal style on screen.
This expanded her image from journalist and anchor to daytime TV personality. She remained on the show until September 2018.
Leaving The Talk in 2018
Julie Chen Moonves left The Talk in September 2018. CBS News reported her official exit at that time.
Even after leaving the daytime show, she continued hosting Big Brother, which showed that reality television had become the strongest and longest-lasting part of her career.
Her departure from The Talk marked the end of one phase, but not the end of her television work.
Career from 2019 to the present
From 2019 onward, Julie Chen Moonves continued to stay active mainly through Big Brother and related CBS reality programming. She returned for later seasons of the main show and remained one of the most familiar names tied to the franchise.
Today, she was still the host of Big Brother 27, showing how long and steady her run has been. That means her present-day career is still closely linked to the show that made her a long-term reality TV figure.
| Year | Role/Title | Organization/Project |
| 1990 | Intern | CBS Morning News |
| 1991 | Desk Assistant | ABC NewsOne |
| 1991–1995 | Producer | ABC NewsOne |
| 1995–1997 | Reporter | WDTN-TV, Dayton |
| 1997–1999 | Reporter and Weekend Anchor | WCBS-TV, New York |
| 1999–2002 | Anchor | CBS Morning News / CBS This Morning |
| 2000–present | Host | Big Brother |
| 2002–2010 | Co-Anchor | The Early Show |
| 2010–2018 | Co-Host and Moderator | The Talk |
| 2019–present | Host | Big Brother franchise |
Julie Chen Awards and Achievements
The table below lists Julie Chen’s award wins.
| Year | Work or Award | Role/Category |
| 2017 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host for The Talk |
Julie Chen Controversies
The table below lists the main public controversies linked to Julie Chen Moonves.
| Year | Controversy | Detail |
| 2013 | Eyelid surgery comments | Julie Chen Moonves spoke publicly about having cosmetic eye surgery earlier in her career after pressure she said she faced about her appearance in television news. Her comments drew wide public debate about beauty standards, race, and media pressure. |
| 2018 | Public defense of Les Moonves during the misconduct scandal | After sexual misconduct allegations against Les Moonves became public, Julie Chen Moonves defended him on The Talk. Her response became a major controversy because of her public support during an active scandal involving the former CBS chief. |
| 2018 | Exit from The Talk amid fallout around Les Moonves | Julie Chen Moonves left The Talk shortly after the allegations and Les Moonves’s exit from CBS. Her departure was heavily tied in public coverage to the wider controversy around her husband and CBS. |
| 2021 | Name mentioned in the The Talk racism allegations case | During the 2021 fallout around Sharon Osbourne and The Talk, reports said Osbourne had allegedly used racist language about Julie Chen. Julie Chen Moonves was not accused of wrongdoing in this matter, but her name was part of the public controversy around the show. |
Julie Chen Net Worth, Salary
News anchor Julie Chen’s estimated net worth is around $30 million. While details about her annual income are still to be determined.
| Net Worth in Dollars (Approx.) | $30 million |
| Salary (Approx.) | Yet to be updated |
Julie Chen Height, Weight & Physical Stats
Julie stands 5 feet 5 inches (165 cm) tall and has black hair and dark brown eyes. Details about her weight and body measurements are yet to be updated.
| Height | In centimetres: 165 cm In meters: 1.65 m In feet & inches: 5 feet 5 inches |
| Weight | In kg: Yet to be updated In lbs: Yet to be updated |
| Body Measurements | Yet to be updated |
| Hair Color | Black |
| Eye Color | Dark brown |
Julie Chen Instagram, X, Facebook
 @juliechenmoonves | |
| X |  @JCMoonves |
 @JCMoonves |
More From CBS
Interesting Facts About Julie Chen
- Julie Chen Moonves has hosted Big Brother since the show started in 2000.
- She was one of the original hosts of The Talk and stayed on the show from 2010 to 2018.
- Fans gave Julie the nickname “Chenbot” during the early years of Big Brother.
- Before becoming a full-time TV host, she worked in the CBS News division.
- She is also an author and released the audio memoir But First, God in 2023.
- Chen also wrote the children’s book When I Grow Up.
FAQs
Who is Julie Chen Moonves?
Julie Chen Moonves is an American television host, news anchor, and producer. She is best known for hosting Big Brother and for her past work on The Talk and The Early Show.
What is Julie Chen Moonves famous for?
Julie Chen Moonves is most famous for being the longtime host of Big Brother. She also became widely known through her work as a CBS news anchor and daytime talk show host.
What is Julie Chen Moonves’s full name?
Julie’s full name is Julie Suzanne Chen Moonves. She was born as Julie Suzanne Chen and later used Moonves after her marriage.
How old is Julie Chen Moonves?
Julie Chen Moonves is 56 years old. She was born on January 6, 1970, in New York City.
Who is Julie Chen Moonves’s husband?
Julie Chen Moonves is married to Les Moonves. He is a former television executive and former CBS chief executive.
Does Julie Chen Moonves have children?
Yes, Julie Chen Moonves has one son, Charlie Moonves, with Les Moonves.
What did Julie Chen Moonves study?
Julie Chen Moonves studied broadcast journalism and English at the University of Southern California. Her education helped prepare her for work in news and television.
Is Julie Chen Moonves still on Big Brother?
Yes, Julie Chen Moonves is still publicly known as the host of Big Brother. That role remains the most recognized part of her career.
Has Julie Chen Moonves won any awards?
Yes, Julie Chen Moonves won a Daytime Emmy Award as part of The Talk team. This is one of her best-known confirmed award wins.
