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Connie Chung biography

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Quick Facts

  • NAME: Connie Chung
  • OCCUPATION: News Anchor, Journalist
  • BIRTH DATE: August 20, 1946 (Age: 66)
  • EDUCATION: University of Maryland
  • PLACE OF BIRTH: Washington, D.C.
  • Full Name: Constance Yu-Hwa Chung Povich
  • ZODIAC SIGN: Leo

Best Known For

Connie Chung is known as the first Asian and the second woman to anchor one of America’s major network news programs. She has worked at CBS, ABC, NBC and CNN.

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Chung landed in hot water in 1995 after she prompted Kathleen Gingrich, the 68-year-old mother of then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, to admit that her son had called First Lady Hillary Clinton "a bitch." The elder Gingrich made the comment after Chung said, "Why don't you just whisper it to me, just between you and me?" Though Chung said it was clear she was being playful,

many viewers felt she had entrapped Gingrich.

Faltering Career

Concerns over her interviewing style, and Dan Rather's reported resentment at having to share the anchor role, doomed the Chung-Rather on-air partnership. In May 1995, CBS informed Chung that it was removing her from the co-anchor chair, offering the lower position of weekend and substitute anchor. Chung declined, requesting instead to be let out of her contract.

Chung attempted unsuccessfully to launch her own news program alongside Maury Povich before moving to ABC News in December 1997, where she anchored the Friday night newsmagazine 20/20. At 20/20, she scored the first interview with Congressman Gary Condit after the 2001 disappearance of intern Chandra Levy.

In 2002, she moved to CNN to anchor a new show competing with Fox News Channel pundit Bill O'Reilly. The program struggled -- CNN founder Ted Turner called it "just awful" -- and CNN abruptly dropped her in March 2003. A "very shocked and extremely disappointed" Chung stepped away from television for some time, staying at home to raise her son.

In 2006, she returned to TV with her husband on a Saturday morning show called Weekends With Maury & Connie. The show was quietly cancelled after six lackluster months, but it was hard to miss the viral video clip of Chung wearing a slinky white dress and warbling a parody song with lyrics like, "Thanks for the memories/ We came to do a show/ For very little dough/ By little I mean/ I could make more working on skid row." Chung later clarified that the whole thing was a joke mocking the show's cancellation. "All I want to be sure of is that viewers understood it was a giant self-parody," Chung said. "If anyone took it seriously, they really need to get a life."

© 2013 A+E Networks. All rights reserved.

© 2013 A+E Networks. All rights reserved.

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