Expect the Unexpected: A Conversation with Julie Chen Moonves

Most people know Julie Chen Moonves as the face of Big Brother: composed, precise, unshakeable. What they don't know is the woman who almost turned down the job, survived a brutal first season where the critics hated her and her own colleagues thought she was a sellout, and quietly held it together with a bottle of scotch and a Sharpie marking how much she was allowed to drink that night.

This conversation goes beneath the surface. Chelsie sits down with Julie to talk about what it actually costs to last 25+ years in a business that was never designed for you as a woman, as a Chinese American, as someone of faith in an industry where saying the name "Jesus" will empty a room. Julie doesn't flinch. She never has.

This episode is for anyone who has been told the room isn't built for them. Anyone who's had to choose between who they are and what the industry wants them to be. Anyone who's been pressing forward on little sleep, little affirmation, and a faith that's still being formed. The diamond doesn't start beautiful. That's the whole point.

Timestamps:
2:10 – How Julie Got the Big Brother Job (at 29 Years Old)
17:00 – Endurance: Running on Little Sleep Between Big Brother & the * 25:00 – Being a Chinese American Woman in Television — Breaking Barriers
40:15 – Three Minorities on One Morning Show — Unheard Of
52:30 – Going Public with Her Faith in Hollywood
1:04:00 – Rapid Fire: Most Chaotic Live Moments, Dream Guests & More
1:16:00 – What She Wants to Be Remembered For

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New episodes drop every other Tuesday.
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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

For more than two decades, she's been the calm in live chaos. A journalist, a host, but ultimately a pioneer. A woman who learned to shine with grace under a light that can either refine you or break you. She turned the last 25 plus years of live television into a masterclass of endurance and poise. But today, we're not just meeting the host we've watched for years. We're meeting the woman who kept her faith steady, her voice calm, and her legacy intact. You might know her as Julie Chen Munvez, but y'all, I know her as Auntie Julie Chen Munvez in the building. Welcome to the Diamond Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Thank you for having me. It's true. We are family. We're family. Breaking news, yes.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Thank you so much for being here.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Of course. This is amazing.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

It's a full circle moment.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Yes, now the tables have turned.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

And I get to interview you. Expect the unexpected. Expect the unexpected. But it's so special that you're here, Julie, because the title of this podcast was Birth from my final speech on Big Brother, where I shared my game was that of a diamond. Uh, no matter what angle you look at it, it's beautiful. But in order to get a diamond, it has to first, it was hidden, it has to be pressed, crushed, gone through the fire. Then you get this beautiful product, but it the process is necessary. But during that speech that I gave on Big Brother, I watched it back after the fact. And there is a moment that the camera zoomed in on your face as I was giving my speech. And you gave like a side eye.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Before we get into it, do you remember that moment? No, I need to cue it up. And look, who was I giving the side eye to? That's a great question. Everybody's like, oh, Auntie Julie is given the side eye. I was like, uh-oh, what is Julie thinking?

SPEAKER_00 2:00

And it's all I mean, I can't imagine based on that speech, you were directing your words at anyone, throwing shade at anyone. So I don't know why I did that. Maybe it was my stage manager, like, what do you need?

SPEAKER_02 2:12

But thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Of course. I want to dive in because so many people know you as Julie the host, who was just Grace Big Brother for 25 since 2000.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Yes. It's incredible. Talk about expecting unexpected because I was approached about the job. I was only 29 years old and working in news. I just turned 30. I had started at the network at CBS five months earlier when I was 29. And I had this these big dreams and aspirations of being a correspondent on 60 Minutes one day. I went to journalism school. That's what I studied in college. And then I got this um, you know, phone call to come meet with after I got off the air at 9 a.m. when I was done with my day at 9 a.m. to yes, live broadcast from 7 to 9, actually live from 4:30 in the morning until basically 9 a.m. And I uh went into the office of the then president of CBS News, and Survivor had just launched and it was huge. And he said, you know, the network is starting a new show, reality show called Big Brother. It's going to be done for 10 weeks. Back then it was only 10 house guests. Yes, but it was not as luxurious. Okay. The house was not, you had to like raise chickens and have them hatch eggs so you could eat food. I mean, it was like harder than Survivor. Yes. So um he said the network wants you to host it. And you know, they described it kind of like Survivor, that people are start-out strangers. They've actually that year we modeled it after the original show in the Netherlands where you didn't vote each other out. The public voted. The public would, yeah. Yes. So I said, Well, if I do this job, um is that going to forever like bar me from becoming a six a 60 minutes correspondent? And he said, most likely, yes. And I said, Well, thank you for your honesty. There goes, then I know my answer. Like, you don't have to fly me to LA. I know my answer, I pass. And he didn't expect that. And he said, Well, you know, um, you work for this company, and technically we can assign you this job. And if you turn it down, it could be seen as insubordination.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

To which I said, When's the next flight to LA? Let's go. And it was a rough first year. Um, the critics didn't like the show. They didn't like me. People with in co-workers at CBS News thought it was um a scandal that I was a morning news anchor and then hosting an entertainment show that I was blurring the lines of news and reality. You know, I mean news and entertainment. It was just nobody was happy with my job performance. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

So how did you get past that first year?

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Um, I'm sorry to say I didn't know Jesus then. I did have this big bottle of Scott. And I would put like a Sharpie marker, like a mark and a date, like, okay, I need a sip tonight. Um, you know, but now I know looking back, God got me through because, you know, they could have canceled the show, they could have canceled me from both news and entertainment, but um, by the faith of you know, grace of God, uh I'm here today. And there's so is the show, you know.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

25 years later.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Who would have thought?

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Certainly not me. There were rumors that they could cancel the show, like, you know, two, three weeks in. I'm like, what do we do? Just like let them all out, you know.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

And let them run in the wild outside the house.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Yeah, like, oh, it's over. Yeah. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

I didn't know that. I had no idea. We're gonna get more into when your faith played a big role into Big Brother, but first I'm curious, like, growing up, what shaped your view of what it meant to be successful?

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Oh, well, that's easy because my parents are uh immigrants, yes, Chinese immigrants, yes, and it's like there are just a handful of things that are important. It's in my culture. It's academics, it's working hard, it's food, it's family. You know, food family. And so, and I saw that modeled in my father. Um, I was born and raised in Queens, New York, and I was the youngest of three girls. And every day my dad was out the door by like 6, 10 a.m. Where he had to walk down this long block, take the bus into uh to the train station, take the Long Island Railroad into Manhattan, get on the new New Jersey path train he to get to Newark, New Jersey for his job as a structural engineer for public service energy and gas. And then he would be home, and he would be home in time for dinner by six, a little bit after six p.m. So it was a long day. And like, you know, you grow up thinking your family and your environment is normal. So to me that was normal. Yeah. And he would wake up, he'd make his own breakfast, he'd listen to news radio and he was out the door, you know, suit, tie, everything. Um, and then at the same time, I saw my mom working hard. I mean, she made some of our clothes every night was a delicious meal that, you know, she made and did everything, clean the house, our laundry, um, but also in due time taught us how to be self-sufficient. And I remember her saying, like, you girls, none of you are allowed to stay home for college. You have to get out there into the world. So it was like on the domestic front, I saw a hard worker and my mom didn't drive for a very long time. So um, to help make ends meet, my uh mom, who is a very good seamstress, that on weekends, uh, my parents would drive to this factory where they would bring like sacks of um cloth and it was clothing that had to be assembled. And my mom got a sewing machine, you know, in the corner of her bedroom, and she would just be sewing away, sewing away, um, you know, making these garments, not not expensive garments. And so between the two of them, I saw um hard work and it was again, that was normal, you know, it was like not working hard was not an option for me and my sisters.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

Yeah. How did how did your parents' journey or what did it teach you about endurance? Because 25 years in the same role that you're in successfully, but even just like being in TV for so long, there's gonna be times where it's people don't like you, you know, people don't want you to win. What have your what has your parents' journey taught you when it comes to having to endure even when it's difficult?

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Oh, you you cannot quit. I mean, my dad was in the same job until he retired. Wow. Um, so you know, there was that. That was back in the day when people didn't jump around, you know, a year or two here. Yes. Um, and you know, the Chens, we're not quitters. It's it's again, failure's not an option, quitting is not an option. And yes, you're going to have some um stumbles along the way and some falls, and you pick yourself up and you dust yourself off. You know, I also feel as if genetically I was blessed with endurance. You know, seeing like my dad got like little sleep, worked hard. Um I have been able to function on very little sleep because when I was doing Big Brother, my main job was doing the news. And I did a solo for three years, I did a CBS, something called the CBS Morning News. And it was on live from 4:30 to 5 a.m. So there there would be times like I didn't get much sleep, and I would do that, and then I would every week for 10 weeks, and it ended up being more than 10 weeks, eventually I'd get on a plane to go to LA to do Big Brother and then come back. So it was just like I was on this treadmill that didn't stop. Um, but it was consistency, you know, and you just don't overthink it. You just do it. You know, I could sit here complaining, worrying, whatever, just one foot in front of the keep moving forward, you know. Some days will be slower, but just keep moving forward.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

Speaking of moving forward, you're you're in a role where there's no retakes really. You have it's live.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

I love that because that's all I've known. Starting in in TV news, you know, you start out as a general assignment reporter. So it's breaking news, no preparation. You know, there's a fiber alarm fire down here, go just get on the scene, put in your earpiece, start tell, start talking, start telling us the story. So that was my whole career. And then being on the news, you know, you watch, you turn on local news and they're reporting the news live. And um, there was some consideration a few years in because the naughty house guests would curse on live TV.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

And they get in so much trouble for that.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

Don't we like promise you guys like pizza if you guys don't curse or something? If we would we did many years ago.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

They didn't they didn't do it for us.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

Really? It was just like fear. Yeah, don't do it, don't do it. So it's it'll be a penalty nomination. All right, then we're not gonna curse. So they said, you know, we might have to um do it live to tape, as they call it, which kind of doesn't make sense, yeah, which I just mean record it and then turn it around or on a delay. And I thought, oh no, you're gonna lose the energy, you know. And then there's always someone in the group who feels like, oh, I could do it better, let's do it again. Now that person's not me. Like, I'm like warts and all, let's go. Yeah. Like good, bad, ugly, let's just go. Let's, you know, we're off and running.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

Was there a moment in live television that tested your composure the most?

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Yes. And it was when I was uh moderating a daytime talk show on CBS called The Talk, and we had to announce the verdict. There was a mother who was on trial for um the murder of her young daughter. And it was uh when the verdict came down, um we were on. That was also a live TV show. And um, having my background in news, you know, I'm getting it fed to me my earpiece, and um and I couldn't speak. I couldn't, oh maybe they handed me a piece of paper and I couldn't speak when I saw it, and I had to because I knew I would just burst out in tears, and I just had to slide the um paper to one of my co-hosts, and and she did it for me. So that's that's tough. Yeah, that yeah, that was hard. That was the hardest.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

How did you recover from that? Or did you have any fear after that that you would be handed another like this would happen again?

SPEAKER_00 13:30

I was horrified that I I thought that I didn't fulfill my job duties and that it was unprofessional. And little did I know it had like the opposite effect where people were um they they themselves were moved by seeing, you know, not just like this uh broadcaster who is like a robot, you know, they call me the Chen Bot, that's like a nickname, and I there are the robotic qualities. Um, but then it was like a a human moment. Um, and I it was so I thought, you know, I've made little mistakes here and there on live television, but like when you stub your toe on live TV, it feels like you fell off a cliff. And then you watch the recording, you're like, what was that bad? You know, it just felt like your world is over. Yeah. And then it's it's never as as bad as um you talk it up to be in your head.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

I I get it. I get it.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Well, with you being in this role as a Chinese American, and you you don't see uh at that time a lot of diversity in the role that you were like didn't when I was growing up in Queens, you know, the only time you would see Asian people on television was like on a Saturday morning, it would be some kung fu movie, and it would be dubbed in and be guys with long, you know, Fu Man shoe beards, and they didn't look like me. They certainly didn't look like me. And then um, I want to say like maybe 1980, so I would have been 10 years old, there was a female Asian local newscaster in New York by the name of Kidi Tong. She might still be on the air in New York, you know, she was at like the ABC affiliate then and like on the main show. And she was vivacious and great and just, you know, I I couldn't believe it. And, you know, anytime there was an Asian person on television, like my dad would always like scream out in the house, Gangai, Gangai, Tung Pan Ran Sai, dance a song, which means like, hurry up, come here, come here. There's there's an Asian face on television. And we'd all like run. And I was like, wait, what is happening? And my mom was seeing like how like inavorant I was, and my mom said she planted this seed in my head probably a few years later, um, because I was in junior high, and she was like, that's what you should do for a living. And I was my mom's little buddy, because my two older sisters, they were thick as thieves. And you know, I wasn't cool enough to hang around that. I was the pest. So I hung out with my mom and helped her in the kitchen, and you know, and um, and I was and I listened to her. I, you know, so all you uh moms or future, you know, moms out there know your kids are listening. They're listening.

SPEAKER_02 16:29

We are listening. So, how did you deal with being one of the few uh to look the way that you are to represent what you do on TV? How did you manage the perception of the audience? Like, did you feel this pressure that you had to meet up to the network's expectations or metrics or just meet up to the audience perception of how you should be on TV? How did how were you able to manage the challenges of being a woman of color in this space?

SPEAKER_00 17:00

Well, there were a lot of um twists and turns in my journey. You know, when I got the job in my first job in front of a camera, reporting the news, I was in Dayton, Ohio. And the news director who hired me there, he was a forward thinker. He um had come from a bigger market. He was the news director or assistant news director in like Phoenix, Arizona. And he was open-minded. So when he hired me, I was the only Asian person, not only at my station, but at the other stations, the other two competing stations. I was at the ABC station then. And he got a bigger, better job like five months into me being there. And but when he hired me, he said, even though I hired you as a general assignment reporter, my hope is to move the morning female anchor to the evening newscast, because the evening lady had been there forever and uh she was going into retirement. I don't think willingly, but that's the business. And this guy didn't hire her. He was like this new kid in town who was gonna change things up and make us the number one station. We we were the number two. And he said, and I'll put you in the mornings. That's my vision. Then he got a bigger and better job and went to Washington, D.C. And the new news director who came in, I asked him, I said, you know, before so-and-so left, this was his idea, this was his vision. Like, what do you think? And he said to me, You will never be an anchor here because here in Dayton, we don't have a large Asian community. And how relatable can you be? Wow. And I thought, I'm just as American as you are. I actually have more to offer because I have another culture, you know, and another language. And um, so it was like a sock to the stomach, but it was also a wake-up call. And I thought, okay, I I'm not really wanted or appreciated here. And there's I've been told there's no room to grow. So I had a three-year contract and I started working towards getting out as soon as I could. And I got out probably eight months earlier than I than than my three-year contract would have fulfilled, and I got an opportunity at the number one market, which was um New York City, my hometown. So um, and when I went there, it was a whole different story. First of all, it's New York, so it's so diverse. And I remember the news director, he um, like two weeks onto the job, into the job, he said, Oh, I know you never he goes, Oh, how would you like to anchor the the news this weekend? Because the weekend female anchor, she was on vacation. It was fourth of July weekend. And I said, I would love to, but you know, I've never anchored before. And he said, No, I know that. Why don't you um watch uh the new newscast, um Cindy, Cindy Shu, lovely woman, she's still there at Channel 2, WCBS in New York. Um, have her show you the ropes. Okay. Cindy did, she did a great job. I mean, it was a holiday weekend, you know. I don't know how many people were watching TV. So it was like, whatever, just go on there. So I did it. And then a few weeks later he said, Oh, you know, Cindy's morning co-anchor is going to be on vacation. Why didn't you fill in next to her for the week? And I'm like, two Asian females sitting side by side, like unheard of. And I remember like hearing from people, they're like, Oh my God, I couldn't believe what I was seeing when I turned on the television. Um, but what you should know is prior to me getting to New York and me wanting to get out of date in Ohio, um, my agent who got me that job, and she was a wonderful woman, one of the first agents to represent TV news people, she was a pioneer. She passed away. So I was looking for a new agent. And then when I went shopping for a new agent, one of the three um agents that I met with, and he represented Connie Chung and like Al Roker, like he had uh only a few names but big names. And he was very honest with me and he said, Your eyes, because you have Asian eyes, sometimes when you're reporting or when they take a cutaway shot of you, like me nodding and listening to the subject, he said, You look disinterested, you look bored, or you look angry. And he handed me this folder and he said, If you get plastic surgery to make your eyes look bigger, more western, like you naturally have a crease. A lot of Asian people have extra fat on the top of their lid. So it hangs over and looks heavy. He said, if you get this done, I guarantee you you will be in a top 10 market as your next job. And I was like, okay. And he goes, Now I'm not saying you can't get there without this eyelid surgery, but you get there a lot fa faster. So I took the information home to my parents and I did the surgery. I didn't end up signing with him, but I am forever grateful for that, you know, piece of advice. And then it happened. And it happened. So, okay, so I get to New York. Uh, there were opportunities there. And then it came time where they were casting a new network bourning program at CBS. And they were building a team around Brian Gumble. And they already had the weatherman locked in. And he had been at the network for 18 years. He too is black. And they got the female co-host who is white. And then I was the fourth person to be cast. And I was being considered because as they were casting, I was filling in on this morning network show and going back to do local news. Again, endurance.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

And then I remember the um a four the agent that I hired instead of the guy who told me to get the plastic surgery. I wasn't happy at that agency. I was the least important person at that agency. Never got my answers. I never got my phone calls like answered. Like maybe when the guy was driving home, he'd, you know, call me because he was stuck in traffic. Um I had left that agency because I wasn't getting anything in return. And I was paying a commission. And that agency represented the female co-host of Bryant Gumble. And they were working actively against me getting that job as the as the fourth person in the news anchor of a morning show. And they said to um one of the executives at CBS News, like, really, you're gonna have three minorities three out of your four main people are going to be minorities. How's that gonna go over with America? And I I ended up getting the job despite that. Yeah, and um, so it was always, you know, something, but you learn you have endurance, resilience, and it makes you work that much harder to prove the naysay. Yeah, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:36

Wow, that I had no idea. That's insane. And like it's women like you that decide to step into those spaces, regardless of that stuff happening, that you guys broke down barriers for us to then enter these spaces now. So I I couldn't imagine during that time breaking those barriers that you had to, but that makes you the legend that you are today. It all makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Thank you, Chelsea.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

Of course, you know, it's also my mom raised us three girls, her three daughters, um, her three kids, as if we were boys. She was like, You're gonna get an education and you're gonna provide for yourself. Yes. And I think a lot of it was, you know, when she married my dad, she left her whole family and her support system behind in Singapore, and she was beholden to like, you know, this this whole life, and she couldn't go out and work. And she, you know, was a wife and a mother. She was a mother and a wife first, and then her own person last. And she's like, You're gonna go out there into the world, all three of you, and you're gonna write your own ticket, and you're gonna have careers and you're gonna provide for yourselves, and then you get to choose who and if you want to get married, and and you know, you know, bring them into that space.

SPEAKER_02 25:46

Yes. Wow. I I love that, I love that so much. My question, uh, I've watched Big Brother for since I was 10. So I've seen you on TV for a long time, and there's a shift that happened in Big Brother where you started because I pay attention to everything. I'm like, I'm like obsessed with the show. You would always sign off the show a certain way. There's one season I and I can't remember what season it was, but you started to sign off as be strong and courageous.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

You started to sign off with language that I'm like, that sounds, and I'm young, so I'm not looking into interviews or anything like that to see any shift that happened in your life, but I'm saying I'm like, that sounds like the like the Bible. And I start hearing this because I'm I was aware of scripture, and I'm like, and every week you would do something a little different. I'm like, that's that's in the Bible, and then you did love one another and it stuck. It it stuck and it stuck really hard. How what when was that shift in your faith?

SPEAKER_00 26:47

What was that moment? That shift happened the summer of 2020 because it was the first summer of COVID. Oh, yeah. And I had started my walk with Jesus two years earlier in 2018, but I was not even taking baby steps, like it was a stow, slow crawl. And then when the world stopped, we all had time on our hands. And I really dove into the Bible then. And another big thing that happened in my life was um January of 2020, before the world took down, which was in March of 2020, um, my dad died unexpectedly. And my mom um moved in with us temporarily to see if she wanted to move in with us permanently, and the shutdown happened. So a two-week trial turned into six months. And during that time, we leaned on each other and into scripture and started um studying the Bible together and attending Bible study classes um by watching these videos. This great Bible uh preacher named uh David Pawson, British, recommended by my aunt, who um is a born-again Christian. And um, so we would watch these videos daily. And um you fast forward a few months later, Big Brother starts, and it was such um a hard time in history for all of us um with COVID and people, you know, COVID didn't discriminate, like anyone didn't age, didn't matter how healthy you were, didn't matter what race, religion, like you could die. And then it was a summer of George Floyd, right? And there was so much hate and there was so much division and um and and the election, you know. Um and I wanted to, and Big Brother was one of the first shows to go back and look like its original state, you know. Some talk show hosts were like hosting out of their garage, right? In their house. Or and because Big Brother was designed for um such a such a time and space, because you all are quarantined. You have to be isolated, right? As long as everyone tested negative and then you know, was in their shell, their hotel room quarantined for two weeks, then you go in and no one's wearing a mask, including me, because I'm not I'm I'm not out around anyone. Well, every the the crew, everyone else had to wear a mask and shield. And I was the only one not and new house guests. So um I really wanted to end the show with like a line of hope and encouragement and love and unity. Um and I was very careful because although it was always from scripture, I had to like make it um universal. Yeah. So it didn't scream like she's bringing the Bible at me. For sure.

SPEAKER_02 30:00

You know, yeah, it was very subtle.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

So I was like, oh, and like every week I'd be sweating it out like, all right, I gotta like run this up the chain. Are they gonna accept this one? Is this gonna be okay? And I told my friend, my girlfriend, what I was going through, and she said, You don't have to struggle that hard, Julie. And she said to me, Love one another, just sign off with that. I was like, Oh, I love it. And yeah, and they accepted it, and that stuck. Wow. So um, and I and there was something happening. Um, I felt, or maybe I just didn't notice before, but I felt like more and more house guests would whether it was on live show night, um usually on live show night, at least that's when it was shown, they would uh be open about their faith. You know, like someone would get up there to have to like make a plea for, you know, the votes, and they would say, you know, glory to God, or like if it's God's will, or you know, first I want to thank God. And I was like, okay, am I just noticing this now? Or, you know, because I'm a follower of Jesus now, or did it always exist? And it just kind of like went over my head. I don't know. Yeah, but um, that's the derivation.

SPEAKER_02 31:17

That's the I no, that's where love uh love one another came from.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 31:22

That is the most iconic sign-off on television. You heard it here. I it is my favorite thing. Was there a moment because then you you started God 101? So you started becoming very public about your faith while also still working in in the entertainment industry. There's a tendency to, when you're in the entertainment, at least what I'm recognizing, you're in this space, and there's a tendency to want to conform or be afraid to be public about your faith because that's not the norm in the spaces that we're in. Did you wrestle with that at all?

SPEAKER_00 31:59

Oh, yeah. The name Jesus will clear a room in Hollywood. Okay. And um, but I was fortunate that I was a certain age and I had uh reached a certain level of um financial security, and I just didn't care. I didn't care. I was like, this is me. Yes, and I'm gonna be phony. And I also know from studying the Bible that if I can't testify before others, why is Jesus gonna testify on behalf on my behalf before God the Father? Right. So I'm like, I I have been blessed with this career and so many different types of broad broadcasting and a platform. If I don't use it to glorify God, what is the point? Yeah. So I'm just gonna give it a go.

SPEAKER_02 32:50

And you did. Yes. How did you deal with the noise? Because I social media is not the kindest. People, especially success pool. It's bad. Especially, I don't, I don't know what it is, but I talked to a lot of survivor players and amazing race players. And then I'm in the Big Brother family. There's something about the Big Brother fan base that's that is because I think it's because they're so invested in us for so long, day in and day out. They feel this comfortability to just talk to us however we want.

SPEAKER_03 33:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 33:20

How how did you handle the noise of whatever noise, whether it was noise about living out your faith or whatever the public said, how did you drown that out and stay consistent?

SPEAKER_00 33:32

I guess in a strange way, it was a blessing that that was not my first trip to the rodeo of being attacked or criticized or disliked. Um, you know, starting from when I first started doing Big Brother and I was, you know, ruining news as we knew it in America. Um, you know, to people not liking the shape of my eyes, or, you know, I had been on the receiving end of criticism and or hate um that at that point I was like, you don't affect my life. You know, I'm not gonna read it, I'm not gonna feed it. You know, you can exist there in in that darkness, but it is not gonna stop me.

SPEAKER_02 34:14

Yeah, and you can see it hasn't stopped, it hasn't stopped you. I uh was talking to one of the producers at Big Brother um as soon as I got off the show. They were like, just online haters, pay him in a mine and keep keep it pushing. And but it takes a level of like knowing who you are and being secure in that to not waver.

SPEAKER_00 34:35

Um the first time it stinks, yeah, yeah. Especially like, you know, I'm sure your whole life you have been loved and you know, like you never had experienced that. No, the first time you're like, you think it's truth. You're like, oh my god, what? And it really stinks.

SPEAKER_02 34:53

It it stung for a while. And especially because when I got picked up from my home out here in California to go to Big Brother, and then you're sequestered and you're on the show, you're like you're not seeing how the public is receiving you, you're just in this bubble. I saw in a lot of ways, I still felt normal. Like when I got out the house, I'm like, I'm going back to my You're still in your bubble. Yes, the bubble, the bubble was burst off the show, and it just opened me to an arena where there was no matter what I do, no matter what I say, there's gonna be noise. Um, but especially this added element of me being a person of faith. There is this additional, you know, critique that I get. And I see how you carry yourself with such poison grace online. I've I pay attention and I'm like, listen, it doesn't shake her. I need it to learn to have it not affect the way I view myself.

SPEAKER_00 35:44

Well, two things come to mind as I'm hearing you say this. One is um it's often not about you, it's it's often the people who have so much darkness or hurt or anger or hate. It is uh, I feel a level of um self-loathing that they instead of um internalizing it, they put it, they spit it out at, you know, make someone their target. Um, or it's an attack from the enemy. Yeah, you know, I mean, he's not coming after people who aren't um saved, who who aren't, you know, preaching the word or practicing the word or know God. He's already got them. Yes. He's coming after people who are bold about their faith. He doesn't want that.

SPEAKER_02 36:34

He certainly doesn't want you spreading that, especially on a national platform.

SPEAKER_00 36:38

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 36:40

And that was like I had to wrestle with that in the big brother house. And I I I prayed a lot because we couldn't sing, you know, in the big brother house. I couldn't worship. I I was struggling. But I would pray uh every night and every morning, and I felt like in the big brother house, the Lord's like, if I if I take you this far, don't for don't forget me when you when you get there.

SPEAKER_03 37:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:03

I think a lot of people when they get to a certain space, you wrestle with, like, you know, do I act one way to appease the world or do I stand bold in my faith? And so when I was giving that final speech, I'm like, before I do anything, I'm giving glory and and honor to God. Like he's the only reason that I'm even on the show. So I can't in those spaces, I like I had I got to choose what kind of Chelsea do I want to be, what do I want to stand on? But seeing you do that in in that space in subtle ways for so long, it gave me the confidence to be like, if these people are being bold, and you as soon as we walked on the stage right before getting the big brother house, and we saw you for the first, it was like a it was just like an angelic moment. Uh, I think you you were praying to yourself. You had a moment where you just centered yourself and you prayed. And I'm like, this woman is so bold in this space, it gave me confidence to walk into the big brother house and be completely Chelsea. So thank you for thank you for being that person because it gives us the boldness to stand firm in our faith in that environment.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

Behavior is contagious, good behavior, bad behavior.

SPEAKER_01 38:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:10

So if you, you know, and I am uh fortunate enough to be in this, you know, in Big Brother, you know, on that set, on that show, I'm in a leadership role. And yes, there have been times where I remember the first time that I prayed on set. Um it was again the summer of 2020, COVID.

SPEAKER_02 38:30

2020 got us all.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

Oh my gosh. And, you know, I wanted to do it, as you know, we talked about it's a live show. So I before the live show, I I asked everyone to like pray with me. And then I was told, like, oh, you know, you can't really pressure people to pray with you, or you know, not that you're pressuring them, but because you're the host of the show, the people might feel like, oh man, if I don't jump on board with this, then like, you know, I'm gonna be out. Like, just you know, let people know if they want to go about their jobs, I don't have to pray with you. So I did that the next like week or two. And then finally I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna pray backstage with my little group, you know, hair maker wardrobe, you know, maybe of the sound engineers back there. And now I'm like, you know what? I do it on stage in our purse or the same five, six people, and we do it in front of the audience. And the, you know, audience warm-up guy, he might still be talking with the audience. You know, he's still doing his job, not stopping everyone from doing their job. I remember that summer, you know, I always end the season with like some sort of parting gift. And the goodie bag, God bless you, uh, our sound engineer. You can't hear him because the sound's so good. But I heard him sneeze. So I say, God bless you. And you know I mean that. Um uh so I handed out in one of the gifts I handed out was um a Bible, the NIV. And after the summer, after we had our finale, I had a phone call from a CBS executive, and he was like embarrassed. He was like, I I don't even I don't even know how to say this. He's like, he goes, it's not a complaint. We didn't get a complaint, but someone called us and they said, Oh, in the gift bag, the goodie bag, there was a Bible. And like, I don't know what to do with this. And you know, and they weren't like offended, but they just they were puzzled, you know. And they the network said to me, You just have to make it very clear. That is a personal gift from you, it's not one from the network. From the network, yeah. And I was like, Oh yeah, no problem. Trust me, I want to take the credit, you know. Um, so you know, like little signs of resistance or not like fully embracing everything I was doing. But I I'll find a, you know, I'll respect and I'll pivot and I'll find a way to ultimately, you know.

SPEAKER_02 41:09

That's the business. Listen, I believe her with her parting gifts. I got one when I got off Big Brother, but she walked in. Those who are listening to this, you can't see it. But those who are watching, Auntie Julie walked in and gave all of us. She she comes with gifts, y'all. Baby Jesus, just in her several in her purse.

SPEAKER_00 41:26

I was one short. I'm your team is big here. Yeah, there are eight people here.

SPEAKER_02 41:30

I was like, I'll be like maybe she brought seven, the number of perfection, and we messed it up. So my bad. But she's a woman that that gives through gifts, and I love it so much. Well, I have another question for you, but first, yes, yes. I have uh some rapid fire questions. Bring it. Just top of your head, first thing that comes to mind, I would love for you to answer. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 41:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 41:52

Most chaotic live moment you've ever survived on camera.

SPEAKER_00 41:56

Oh, it again, it was probably summer 2020. It was like things just went wrong that season. The premiere show, we had never done the premiere live. And that was the first year we decided to do it live when everyone's behind masks, yeah. And uh the end of the episode, there's like a there's a secret door that was supposed to be a secret reveal, this secret room. And I instruct the house guest to go there and open the room, and it was locked. So I was like, uh. And then later on that summer, it was double eviction night, and the um key to press like how the um the screens changed behind me. Um, it froze up and it still said from when we opened to the audience at home, double eviction night, double eviction night. And had called all the house guests in, like, house guests, please come. Cause I had to surprise them. And then they're gather and they look up at the screen where they see me and they're like, oh, and they're face up, they're like, it's double eviction night. And I was like, Well, yes, it is. Yeah, like you read mine, so that oh no.

SPEAKER_02 43:04

Which season was that the cookout season?

SPEAKER_00 43:06

No, that was the year that Cody won. That was also 2020. Yes, summer 2020. Oh, those were chaotic moments. Very chaotic. Live TV.

SPEAKER_02 43:14

Okay, a moment that made you tear up after filming.

SPEAKER_00 43:18

Um, when I was covering news, and um, it was after 9-11, and I was sent out to cover a story um to interview a widow. And she must have been late 50s, maybe early 60s, and she lost her husband in one of the Twin Towers. And she was explaining to me that like he did everything. He didn't she didn't even know how to balance a checkbook, pay a bill, anything. And she was so lost. And I remember after um interviewing her, and it wasn't live TV, you know, I went to her home and then I was gonna write a story about it and put on the air the next morning. I had to excuse myself and have To go to the bathroom so that I could I could cry. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:04

Oh my gosh. I you are you are so strong because I would have been like, yup, cancel the show, y'all. I can't hear my I was gonna cry all night. Okay, at time you wanted to break character on TV, but didn't or couldn't. You have a few moments where you'll give somebody a little slap on the head with the cue cards. Well deserved. Shout out to that. But is there a moment?

SPEAKER_00 44:26

I think I might always do it, you know, because it's live and it's like I don't have to ask for permission. I can actually, I might have to ask for forgiveness. So I think I just go for it.

SPEAKER_02 44:38

Oh, I love that. Okay, your dream guest or interview you never got.

SPEAKER_00 44:43

Oh my gosh. I know we were trying to get Michelle Obama for the longest time on the talk. No way. And um she and she was she was not available, you know. Busy.

SPEAKER_01 44:55

Yes, yes, okay.

SPEAKER_00 44:57

And we're on the West Coast. Yeah, she had been on The View, I'm sure, you know. And she didn't have a book yet to promote then.

SPEAKER_02 45:03

The book was phenomenal. The becoming was so phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 45:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 45:06

Okay, the live show you'd still you'd love to host once just for fun.

SPEAKER_00 45:11

Watch what happens live with Andy Cohen. Oh my but I think I want to co-host because Andy Cohen. Do you hear this? That show wouldn't be what it is without him. So I would want to be his co-host for one episode.

SPEAKER_02 45:24

Who would you want to co-host with you on Big Brother for one episode?

SPEAKER_00 45:28

Ooh. Ooh, hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo. That's a good he is a big fan. If we got Andy Cohen to co-host like Big Brother, exchange it, you know, like I sit with him on an episode, he sits with me. That would be iconic. I would love that.

SPEAKER_02 45:46

Andy Cohen.

SPEAKER_00 45:47

Or Jeff Probst. Or Jeff and I would go to the no, I don't want to go. I'll show you. Oh, I'll just go show it for tribal counseling, you know, and then tell them head back to camp. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 45:59

I love that. Okay. One word to describe the next chapter of your life.

SPEAKER_00 46:03

One word to describe, oh, unexpected.

SPEAKER_02 46:09

See that? Yeah. Unexpected.

SPEAKER_00 46:12

Um, I who knows? I mean, I'm a mother of a teenage boy, so every day is unexpected.

SPEAKER_01 46:19

It's like, oh, I'm gonna give you extra.

SPEAKER_02 46:23

You know, yes. Well, if if you could, in closing, if you could look your younger self in the eyes, what would you tell young Julie Chen?

SPEAKER_00 46:34

I would tell young Julie Chen that um you're you're gonna have times where you feel all alone and it's gonna take you until you're 48 to get to know Jesus. But he's there every single minute, and he is why you will get through the hard times, whether it's you know, um, a death or a breakup or not getting that job you wanted, not getting into the school you wanted. Um and you will look back and realize that he was holding you by the hand the whole time, yeah, even as you were trying to break free or ignore, but um, you are not alone. So anyone listening, you are not alone ever, ever, ever, ever. Um you may not know why certain things happen in your life, but God does have a plan for each and every one of us, and it's better than anything we could dream up for ourselves.

SPEAKER_02 47:37

And that is very true. Last question for you. When all the spotlights are gone, the stage, which will not be anytime soon, I pray, because we need you and big brother forever. But when that season comes where you're off the stage, spotlights are not there, what do you want people to remember about you?

SPEAKER_00 47:58

I want people to remember that I was not afraid to be bold speaking about Jesus. Um you know, again, we said earlier, Jesus is a name that will clear the room. And I want people to know that I was like, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, you know, um, and that I walk the walk and I talk the talk, you know, um that and that my word is credible. You know, starting out as a journalist, if you don't have your credibility, you don't have anything. But believe me when I'm talking about the word, believe me. By the way, you don't have to believe me, believe the word, it's right there. Yeah, but I'm a good reporter, you know. I'm gonna I believe I'm going to uh report it accurately. Yeah, you know. Um, I I believe I'm going to promote his word accurately, I should say, not report it, promote his word accurately, advance hopefully his kingdom agenda.

SPEAKER_02 49:05

And you've been doing that. And I I thank you for paving the way, for being bold, for even taking your time out to talk with me. The roles are reversed, and it's giving me so much life. I'm so honored to have you on this podcast.

SPEAKER_00 49:18

Expect the unexpected. It is my honor to be here. This is like and you did it in such a short amount of time from winning.

SPEAKER_02 49:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 49:25

That's I mean, God, that's God speed.

SPEAKER_02 49:29

Godspeed, y'all. Thank you, Julie Tin Mometz, for coming on the podcast. Y'all, it's Auntie Julie. Love you so much.

SPEAKER_00 49:36

Love you too, Chelsea.

SPEAKER_02 49:37

Thank you for having me. Of course.