In New Book, Connie Chung Is Taking on an Important Story: Her Own (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Connie Chung and the cover of her memoir ‘Connie’.Photo:Connie Aramaki/Coco Foto; Grand Central Publishing

Connie Aramaki/Coco Foto; Grand Central Publishing

Grand Central Publishing

“A lot of it is chance, and actually luck, that something triggers a person to take one particular path,” she says. “But I believe that anything that happened in my career was meant to be.”

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!Throughout her decades-long career, Chung would go on to co-anchor at major news platforms like ABC, CBS and NBC. As a reporter, she covered presidential campaigns and the Watergate scandal, and as host for her own news shows, includingFace to Face with Connie Chung, she landed sought-after exclusive interviews, like actorMarlon Brando(“I was just shocked at how he did not respect his own profession”) and former NBA playerMagic Johnson, in the wake of his 1991 HIV diagnosis.Chung was often one of few — if not the only — woman and Asian-American in these rooms, which she says she was constantly having to balance with her work.

Connie Chung in a promotional photo for NBC News at Sunrise.NBC/Getty

NBC/Getty

Chung also writes of the difficulty of balancing work with her personal life. After experiencing multiple miscarriages, a pivotal moment came for her in 1995. That year, Chung was let go from her job atCBS Evening News,right as she and husband, journalist and television hostMaury Povich, adopted their son, Matthew.

Maury Povich and Connie Chung.Rodin Eckenroth/Getty

Rodin Eckenroth/Getty

“He has a wider vocabulary, I assure you, than ‘You are the father’ or ‘You are not the father,” Chung jokes of theMauryhost. “He’s a voracious reader and he is a very solid journalist … he takes his work seriously, but he always told me, don’t take yourself so seriously … I think that’s how we stayed grounded.” But despite that bond, Chung does admit that they still have differing opinions too.“If we’re having a fight at night, he wants to make up before we go to sleep. But when I wake up in the morning, I want to keep fighting. I’m not finished,” she says. “I think that’s the way a lot of women are, anyway. You got to get it out.”

With her memoir now out in the world, Chung says that she’s looking forward to having a “more normal life” again. Her son, now 29, recently got engaged to his long-time girlfriend, and Chung is also ready to spend more time with Povich too.

Connie Chung.Connie Aramaki/Coco Foto

Connie Aramaki/Coco Foto

“I’ve been pretty nuts with this book, and tortured over the writing of it, tortured about finishing it, and then all the subsequent things that I didn’t really know existed in this writing process,” Chung says. But reflecting on it all, the broadcaster has some advice for her younger self, as well as the journalists that are coming up in her footsteps.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.“If I had to do [it] over again, I would not have been so cooperative,” she says. “I would suggest to many women that they need to speak up, not be unsure of themselves, [and] believe that you can do it as well as the men — because you can.”“The first one through the door faces the heaviest gunfire, but there’s always a benefit to be gained,” Chung adds. “And the benefit that I experienced was extraordinary."

Connieis now available, wherever books are sold.

source: people.com