Nowadays 83-year-old Maury Povich has a lot of free time to work on his golf sport. "It has been my remedy for the final, you recognize, 50 years or so," he stated.
In March Povich introduced that he is retiring from his day job, and that unique episodes of his longtime speak present, "Maury" – well-known (and notorious) for its out-of-control teenagers, uncommon phobias, and most of all, paternity checks ("You're … NOT the daddy!") would cease airing in September.
However lengthy earlier than the general public knew him merely as "Maury," Povich had already made his identify as a public affairs host, a reporter, and an itinerant native anchorman who in his off-time studied the tapes of TV information' then "most trusted voice."
"At that time in my life, the Holy Grail was to anchor a community information," Povich instructed correspondent Mo Rocca. "I watched Cronkite as a result of, in fact, he was The Man."
However life on the street took its toll. "I made the horrible mistake of not being with my household, anxious about my profession, and that resulted in a divorce. The largest mistake I've made was placing my job earlier than my household. That was unconscionable."
"You suppose it was unconscionable, however that was the enterprise," stated Rocca.
"That is the habit of the enterprise," he stated.
So, when media mogul Rupert Murdoch supplied him the relative stability of host of a brand new form of information present, "A Present Affair," Povich stated sure. "I fervently imagine that the primary 5 or 6 or seven years of 'A Present Affair' modified the entire panorama of protecting information on tv," he stated.
How so? "'A Present Affair' grew to become common due to the tales that community newsrooms have been placing within the trash can – Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, and all the opposite so-called tabloid tales. And rapidly we have been getting the scores that community newscasts have been getting. CBS Information, I assure you, does extra crime than they used to."
The internet hosting job at "A Present Affair" additionally meant he would stay in the identical metropolis as his second spouse. Povich and Connie Chung had met in 1969 when he was an enormous shot at WTTG in Washington, D.C., and he or she was a replica lady. "Maury by no means paid any consideration to me," stated Chung. ", I might rip wire copy off the wire machines and I would hand it to him."
"And have been you pining for him?" Rocca requested.
"Secretly?"
"Yeah."
"No!" she laughed.
Seven years later, in 1977, they met once more on the West Coast. This time, Chung had high billing. "Co-anchor, second banana," Povich stated of himself. "And he or she was an enormous star in Los Angeles."
That is when their present affair started. "We dated for over seven years, by no means lived collectively," stated Povich.
"Yeah, it was good!" she added.
They married in 1984. "However we have been dwelling in two completely different cities," stated Chung, "and that made it the right marriage."
Povich requested, "Why do not you inform him it took you ten years to place me on the deed?"
"This isn't about me," she laughed.
Our interviewer interjected: "It is gonna be concerning the each – you and Maury, yeah."
"No," she laughed.
"What do you imply?" Rocca requested.
"See? I have been Mr. Chung for nearly 40 years," stated Povich. "I imply, for those who check out it when it comes to my profession, you could possibly completely monitor that each one of my success, my nationwide success, got here after I married this girl."
"Why would you say that?"
"As a result of she settled me, and he or she inspired me, and he or she was a believer in what I needed to supply."
As for Connie's story, after she went nationwide at NBC, she moved over to CBS, and in 1993, grew to become co-anchor of the "CBS Night Information," a primary for Asian-Individuals (and, at CBS, for ladies). The pairing, with Dan Reasonably, did not final.
Povich stated, "However on the similar time, this was a really fortuitous second, as a result of in 1995, when she was taken off the 'CBS Night Information,' the subsequent day we discover out that we're gonna undertake this little boy."
"So, it was serendipity. , it was actually meant to be," stated Chung.
Rocca requested, "When is Connie going to personal her standing as a trailblazer?"
"Properly, you recognize, one of many largest issues I've with this younger woman is that she does not acknowledge what she's performed," Povich stated. "She's simply starting to, as a result of she will get now a variety of inquiries from younger, Asian journalists. In reality, there's this complete crowd of Asian-American ladies named Connie due to her."
"And a few of them are named really 'Connie Chung …' after which one thing, final identify," she added.
"How does that make you are feeling?"
"I am flabbergasted, actually," stated Chung.
At the moment the couple splits their time between New York, Florida and Montana, the place they preserve watch over the Flathead Beacon, the award-winning native newspaper Povich created in 2007.
Rocca requested, "While you take a look at one another now, what do you see?"
Chung stated, "I see a beautiful man."
"No!" stated Povich.
"Yeah, I do."
"What she's going to normally see is: you recognize, there's slightly lint right here, there's slightly lint there …"
"Yeah, I am like a monkey," she stated, selecting at his sweater. "Monkeys do this."
"So, I see probably the most lovely girl I might ever think about," Povich stated.
"Oh, Maury. I've grow to be a prune. I am shrinking and I am as much as your naval."
"Cease it!"
Maury could also be performed along with his program. However Maury Povich and Connie Chung? Their present goes on.
As they kissed on the placing inexperienced, Povich stated, "By no means let a membership get between us."
For more information:
- "Maury" (Official web site)
- Observe "Maury" on Twitter, Instagram, Fb and YouTube
- Connie Chung: Chinese language American Museum
- Flathead Beacon
Story produced by Jay Kernis. Editor: Steven Tyler.