JULIE CHEN MOONVES - Finding Faith After a Crisis

FIVE YEARS AGO SHE LEFT THE TALK IN THE WAKE OF HER HUSBAND'S SCANDAL. NOW THE BIG BROTHER HOST HAS NEW PERSPECTIVE

- DANA ROSE FALCONE

Even veteran TV hosts like Julie Chen Moonves learn about today’s slang from their kids. “Hearing some of the terminology these kids use... Do you know what ‘rizz’ is?” the mom of 14-year-old son Charlie asks. “‘Rizz’ is short for ‘charisma.’ This other term my son uses that cracks me up is, if he’s trying to make a point and everyone is disagreeing, he’ll say, ‘Let me cook.’ These little things keep me young—until I use it the wrong way.”

In her new audio memoir But First, God, Chen Moonves, 53, reveals she initially wasn’t sure if she wanted kids, but her husband, former CBS exec Les Moonves, thought she’d regret not being a mom. “I thought, ‘I’ll entertain him. I’ll give it a try. If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen,’” explains the Queens native. “When I got the [pregnancy test] results, I wasn’t like, ‘Yay.’ I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh. This is real.’” Chen Moonves now finds motherhood to be filled with love and laughter. “My son is hilarious.”