Big Brother’s Julie Chen Moonves Explains Why She Changed Her Name: It ‘Became a Moment’
Julie Chen Moonves tied the knot with her husband, Leslie Moonves, in 2004, but she didn’t start using his last name until 2018 — and she just explained why.
“When I married my husband, I chose not to take the name because I thought it could be seen as an unfair advantage,” the Big Brother host, 52
“It was a powerful, popular name to have. And I had made my own career prior to knowing him. So, I wanted to keep that.”
Moonves, 72, was the chairman and CEO of CBS from 2003 until September 2018, when he resigned following multiple allegations of sexual harassment, which the former exec denied
After the Bucknell University alum’s resignation, Chen Moonves surprised viewers by using her married name to sign off from a September 2018 episode of Big Brother
The former Talk cohost had previously used her maiden name since the reality show premiered in 2000.