Maury Povich: Open Relationship? Insulting Muhammad Ali, IVF Journey & More!

Throwback Thursday (Originally aired: 11/2/25) Step into the world of daytime TV royalty as Bunnie is joined by the legendary Maury Povich. In this candid conversation, Maury takes us through his unforgettable journey from the newsroom to becoming a cultural phenomenon, thanks to outrageous teen drama and those iconic “You are NOT the father!” moments. He shares standout memories — including a powerful interview with Muhammad Ali — and opens up about the meaningful adoption journey he and Connie Chung experienced together. Maury also weighs in on social media’s impact, the value of local journalism, and what his well-earned retirement looks like now (spoiler: golf is definitely involved). Plus, he gives a peek behind the scenes of the thriving Montana newspaper he and Connie run. A legendary career, a timeless storyteller — this one’s special. Maury Povich- YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@onparpod | Instagram https://www.instagram.com/onparpod | TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@onparpod Watch Full Episodes & More: YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@Dumbblondepod

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Bunnie XO?

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• 1:07Bunnie XO?

  Is this thing on? Hi, guys. Welcome back to another episode of Dumb Blonde. Today, we welcome a man whose name doesn't just live in pop culture, it defines it. From the newsroom to daytime TV, from serious journalism to unforgettable "you are not the father" moments, Maury Povich has been making America laugh, cry, and sometimes sprint off the stage for decades.

• 1:30Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 1:31Bunnie XO?

  Was that a good intro?

• 1:33Speaker 01

  Very good, Bunny.

• 1:34Bunnie XO?

  Mr. Maury Povich is on Dumb Blonde.

• 1:36Speaker 01

  It's my honor to be with you.

• 1:38Bunnie XO?

  You don't understand. Like, you are the godfather. You're like, you have no idea, like...

• 1:44Speaker 01

  Everybody says something like that, and I just, I mean, I'm amazed at how penetrating it's been over all these years.

• 1:53Bunnie XO?

  Six decades.

• 1:54Speaker 01

  I know, a long time. But I mean, especially the talk show, you know? Everybody, it's like, it's part of the culture. And I never expected it, and still I'm amazed.

• 2:07Bunnie XO?

  And that's why you're a frickin' legend. I'm telling you, because you're so humble about it, and because you didn't, you didn't seek it out, it kind of found you in a way, which we'll talk about. And you literally made history for...

• 2:23Speaker 01

  Well, you're very kind.

• 2:24Bunnie XO?

  Decades. It's just been insane. Can we bring daytime TV back?

• 2:28Speaker 01

  You know, it's interesting. I'm doing, believe it or not, I'm doing a documentary on the golden age of daytime talk, which was the 1990s. So that's when 12 of us were on the air. You had 12 daytime talk shows.

• 2:46Bunnie XO?

  Yes.

• 2:47Speaker 01

  I mean, we're talking Oprah, Phil Donahue, Geraldo, me, Jenny Jones, Ricky Lake, I mean, Montel Williams. I could go on and on.

• 2:56Bunnie XO?

  Yes.

• 2:57Speaker 01

  And it was this decade.

• 2:59Bunnie XO?

  An unforgettable decade.

• 3:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 3:01Bunnie XO?

  I feel like the world, especially right now, and this isn't to get like too into that subject, but like, we need something to give us an escape. Like, yes, we have reality TV and stuff like that, but it was nothing like what daytime TV did for us. And it was like, you know, if you were ever having a bad day, you just turn the TV on and guess what? You're gonna watch more. You're gonna, I loved Jenny Jones. You know, there was Ricky Lake. There was everybody. That was an outlet. And because right now, everybody's just so focused on religion and politics. It's like, I truly feel like if we brought daytime TV back, it would help heal America.

• 3:39Speaker 01

  You know, you said something that, that, one of the big things I said to my staff about my show, no politics, no religion.

• 3:49Bunnie XO?

  Yes.

• 3:50Speaker 01

  We don't want to do that. Be glad to do, you know, individual stories that have a lot of emotion, a lot of drama, because that's why people want to watch. But I want to stay away from religion. I want to stay away from politics.

• 4:02Bunnie XO?

  You can't win. Absolutely. And I do the same thing on my podcast. What is it like having a podcast now? Because you're coming from, like, real journalism that you went to school for, that you actually graduated and got a degree in, and now everybody has a podcast.

• 4:18Speaker 01

  Right.

• 4:18Bunnie XO?

  I would love to hear your opinion on this.

• 4:20Speaker 01

  It's interesting. I, I think because most people, for the last 31 years, I was doing this talk show, and they know about that part of my life and the fact that I've done that. But not many people knew that, you know, I had 25 years in the business before that.

• 4:37Bunnie XO?

  Yes.

• 4:38Speaker 01

  As a journalist and worked in. I grew up and raised in Washington DC. I worked there. I worked in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia. I was, in fact, one guy, a friend of mine, was writing for Esquire magazine. He said, "My friend, the anchorman, Maury Povich, I have seen him anchor newscasts in four different cities on four successive St. Patty's days. He's trying to go nationwide, city by city." Because that was kind of like my, you know, my odyssey years. I was just out there trying to make it, make it, and make it. And I had to move

• 5:19Speaker 01

  around, and I had disagreements with management and all this kind of stuff. And then I finally went back to my hometown of Washington, and then this wild Australian Rupert Murdoch buys the station and brings me to New York to start this crazy show called A Current Affair, and the rest is history.

• 5:38Bunnie XO?

  Do you feel like you defined pop culture, or do you feel like pop culture defined you?

• 5:43Speaker 01

  You know, I think it's a chicken and an egg. I really do. I believe that we came up with this idea, these ideas of three huge themes that made it. The out of control teenagers who would come on the show because they wanted to run the streets because they hated being home, and they wanted unconditional love, and they wanted to get pregnant at 14. We had that kind of theme. We had the lie detector theme. Where significant others would bring, they would bring on their spouse or a significant other and accuse them of cheating. And so we had the lie detector test. And then, of course, the DNA, which was the most popular.

• 6:23Speaker 01

  But the reason it was successful is because we had an answer. We had a result, and we did it within 15 minutes. Not like daytime soap operas, which would take six months to get through these themes.

• 6:38Bunnie XO?

  Right. Absolutely. Doing those shows, because you, Maury ran for 31 seasons, so that's 5,545 episodes. That's a lot of episodes. One of the longest running talk show hosts. How did you keep your empathy alive when you saw like so many stories that could have just made you jaded?

• 6:58Speaker 01

  Well, I think more than anything else, it goes back to my, to my beginnings as a journalist. We're storytellers.

• 7:06Speaker 01

  And, and I always found it didn't matter if the theme was the same. I believed that every story had a unique quality about it. And so if you can buy into that, that every story has a unique quality, then your curiosity is there. Once you're curious, that means that you're doing your job the best. And so therefore, I just found out that if I could just find a unique aspect in every single story, it was new to me.

• 7:39Bunnie XO?

  I love that outlook because, you know, I was just telling them before you came. It's like, how do you interview people that have had thousands of interviews? And to me, it's like, I just always want to learn something new. I want to find out something new about them. So you saying that is complete confirmation.

• 7:54Speaker 01

  No, absolutely. That, I mean, to me, you know, the best interviewers are those who are curious, those who are able to listen and be able to bounce off what the interviewee is saying. Not necessarily, you know, be, let's go to the next question. Let's go to the next question. You just go with the flow.

• 8:17Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, you make it a conversation.

• 8:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:19Bunnie XO?

  I love that.

• 8:20Speaker 01

  And that's, and that's the best interview. And I've found that whether it be in news or whether it be in talk, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what the platform is. The object is the same.

• 8:33Bunnie XO?

  Is there an interview that you've done in your life that has like stuck with you? Like that you think about often?

• 8:40Speaker 01

  Well, there are some interviews. Well, I'll give you an example. Years and years, my father was the sports editor, sports writer for the Washington Post for 75 years.

• 8:52Bunnie XO?

  Yes.

• 8:52Speaker 01

  So I kind of grew up in sports. I used to do a local talk show in Washington. And I was lucky enough to have Muhammad Ali on the show.

• 9:02Bunnie XO?

  Oh my goodness.

• 9:03Speaker 01

  And so, and he was great. And so because of Ali being on the show and my father who covered Ali and a lot of his fights, I had the two of them on, on my show. And I'll never forget, it was one of the great faux pas's that I've ever had in my life. So I'm there and I'm looking at Ali as bright and smart as he is. I mean, he was the quickest. He was the, not only was he articulate, but he was quick and just so fast to be able to get his thought out. So I said to him, cause he was fighting, still fighting at the time. I said, champ, I said, you know, I, I know stories about other fighters.

• 9:45Speaker 01

  And I was referencing an old fighter named BoJack, who was a middleweight champion. And I said, BoJack, you're not going to end up like BoJack because you know, he ended up shining shoes on the streets of Miami.

• 9:57Speaker 02

  Attention all new and existing members of the W D N C. I'm Melanie Sanders and this is the We Do Not Care Club Podcast. We got to midlife and realized we just simply do not care much anymore. Now we gotta help each other make sense of hot flashes, dry coochie, chin hair, trifling families, brain fog and bat wings. We are not alone and we will be heard. So come join the W D N C. Follow and listen to the We Do Not Care Club Podcast with Melanie Sanders wherever you get your podcasts.

• 10:28Speaker 01

  And he looked at me and said, you just stereotyped me. What are you kidding me? And he went off on me like, and he says, you're not as smart as your daddy. Your daddy would never say anything like that. And I went, oh my gosh, you're right. I just stereotyped the champion of the world. I can't believe it. So there are things you want to take back, but at the same time, okay, live TV, it happened. And you know, I, I was able to say, I was sorry, but at the same time I went, wow, Maury, you really made a big bad one there.

• 11:03Bunnie XO?

  But you learned a lesson.

• 11:05Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 11:05Bunnie XO?

  So I mean, like he taught you.

• 11:07Speaker 01

  I mean, I was like 31, 32 years old.

• 11:10Bunnie XO?

  Yeah. He taught you literally probably one of the greatest lessons where you

• 11:13Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 11:14Bunnie XO?

  Think the question out before you speak.

• 11:16Speaker 01

  I don't think I've ever stereotyped anybody since.

• 11:20Bunnie XO?

  Absolutely. That'll definitely set you straight. So let's go back to your dad because you did just touch base on your dad and you are one of three parent, I'm sorry, you are one of three children and you guys all have like a, you guys grew up in a journalism family.

• 11:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's really crazy. My brother, my late brother, he died at 87, but he was my dear older brother. He, he was the lawyer for the law firm that represented the Washington Post.

• 11:51Bunnie XO?

  Wow.

• 11:52Speaker 01

  You know, and all of its stuff with, you remember the, when the Pentagon Papers went to the Supreme Court and everything else, he represented the Post in many issues. So my sister became the first women's senior, first senior, women's senior editor at Newsweek magazine and her husband was the editor in chief of Businessweek magazine and my father was the, was the sports writer at the Post for 75 years and I am who I am. So it was kind of a delicate house of cards media family. You never know what was going to happen, but you know, we just, we just ended up loving this business so much.

• 12:36Bunnie XO?

  What an awesome legacy.

• 12:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, and it was great. And, you know, I, you know, it's very interesting. You, on the other hand, you've done it all by yourself.

• 12:48Bunnie XO?

  No.

• 12:49Speaker 01

  Right?

• 12:49Bunnie XO?

  Yes, sir.

• 12:50Speaker 01

  You ran away at the age of 14?

• 12:53Bunnie XO?

  Oh, you've done your research, Mr. Murray.

• 12:57Speaker 01

  No, I know about you, buddy.

• 12:58Bunnie XO?

  Oh.

• 12:59Speaker 01

  Can't handle your stepmother.

• 13:00Bunnie XO?

  Oh, yeah.

• 13:01Speaker 01

  Your mother dies when you're, what, an infant almost?

• 13:05Bunnie XO?

  She left the house, yes, she left me at three months, but yes, yes.

• 13:11Bunnie XO?

  But here's the thing. So let's talk about your dad again, just for a split second, because, you know, he was a legend at the Washington Post. So did that inspire you? Or did you always, did you feel like you always had to like, live in his shadow?

• 13:26Speaker 01

  Well, it's interesting about living in the shadow. I, I, I wanted to be a, a print journalist, like him.

• 13:32Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 13:32Speaker 01

  But there were only two papers in town. The Post, where he worked, had a nepotism policy. You couldn't, if you were of the same family, you couldn't work at the paper.

• 13:44Bunnie XO?

  Why is that? I've never heard of that.

• 13:45Speaker 01

  Well, I think maybe because there's this, the Graham family owned the paper, and they didn't want, you know, more, more of this relative stuff on, on the paper, I guess. And then, the only other paper, the Washington Star at the time, they wouldn't hire me because my name was Povich, and my father was the big star of the competing paper. So I kind of gravitated to TV because I got, at, at the age of like, 16, I got this job as the assistant to the baseball broadcaster for the Washington Senators' baseball team. And as soon as I started hanging around TV, I mean, I was addicted. I, I, I just

• 14:30Speaker 01

  knew. I mean, I didn't want to do anything else.

• 14:33Bunnie XO?

  But I think what was cool about you getting into TV is most people want to be the story, but you were interested in the stories.

• 14:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, I wanted to be, I wanted to find the stories.

• 14:44Bunnie XO?

  You wanted to tell other people's stories.

• 14:46Speaker 01

  I wanted to be there. I wanted to observe the stories. And I was very fortunate because, growing up in Washington, the nation's capital, my first job, once I got out of school, was being a radio reporter. So if you're a radio reporter in Washington, you might cover a bank robbery one hour, and you might be in the United States Senate covering a story the next hour. You might be at the White House, or you might be at a fatal car accident. In other words, local and national, it was the same thing if you were, if you were working in Washington DC. So therefore, I was, I was exposed to so much at such an early age.

• 15:29Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 15:29Speaker 01

  I mean, I, I mean... I can, one of the first big stories I ever did in 1963 was go to Andrews, then Andrews Air Force Base and watch Jacqueline Kennedy come off that plane in that bloodied pink suit.

• 15:47Bunnie XO?

  Oh, gosh, okay.

• 15:48Speaker 01

  With her husband's body in the, in the back of the plane.

• 15:53Bunnie XO?

  Oh, my goodness.

• 15:54Speaker 01

  I mean.

• 15:55Bunnie XO?

  How did that make you feel in that moment?

• 15:58Speaker 01

  I still, I can just, I mean, talking about it right now, I can, I can remember the night, I can remember the plane, Air Force One, I can remember everything about it. And that was 37, that was almost 60 years ago.

• 16:13Bunnie XO?

  Wow. That moment in time is just to have, you have been there is.

• 16:19Speaker 01

  And, and, you know, and, and then to be in Washington for the aftermath of the Martin Luther King assassination and the riots, to be there for the anti-Vietnam war demonstrations throughout the town for many, many years, to be there for Watergate, the biggest political event that we've, that I've ever covered and, you know, it, you grew up real fast.

• 16:48Bunnie XO?

  Wow. Do you ever take a moment to reflect on all of these experiences that you've had and just kind of tell yourself, like, pat yourself on the back, like, I lived that, I, I was there for all of that.

• 17:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean, I mean, it's, it's interesting. So, for the last 30 years, I've been doing a talk show, okay, and people ask me all the time, oh, do you regret not covering? I only regret not being at really big events, really big stories.

• 17:20Bunnie XO?

  What is considered a really big story for you, though? Because you've been at a ton of big stories.

• 17:24Speaker 01

  I know, for instance, well, I would have.

• 17:30Speaker 01

  I think I would have liked to have been around the presidential

• 17:37Bunnie XO?

  Gotcha.

• 17:38Speaker 01

  election stories. I certainly would like to have been around January 6th. I would have loved to have been there to see that for myself instead of witnessing it on television.

• 17:49Bunnie XO?

  Right.

• 17:49Speaker 01

  I would like to have done that, but for the most part, I can tell you this, Bunny. I wouldn't want to be in that end of the business today.

• 18:01Bunnie XO?

  No.

• 18:02Speaker 01

  I wouldn't want to be in the news business.

• 18:03Bunnie XO?

  No.

• 18:04Speaker 01

  Too tough.

• 18:05Bunnie XO?

  No.

• 18:05Speaker 01

  You can't, you can't practice it the way I used to practice it, the way my wife Connie Chung practiced it. You just, you can't do it anymore. And quite frankly, those days have passed us by.

• 18:20Bunnie XO?

  Do you think that we'll ever have a chance of bringing it back?

• 18:24Speaker 01

  I have a feeling, there's a, I do have a feeling as to where we have a chance. And that is, the viewers haven't given up on local news.

• 18:39Bunnie XO?

  Hmm.

• 18:40Speaker 01

  So, local television stations, local newspapers, wherever you get your local news, most people think it's honest, it's fair, it's true, it's what happened. And so therefore, if we can start to expand that feeling out again to a national effort, because it exists locally. I mean, you turn on your local news, you believe what you're hearing.

• 19:06Bunnie XO?

  Right. I also believe that the difference between the way that the news was back then and how it is now is we didn't have the internet.

• 19:14Speaker 01

  Of course not.

• 19:15Bunnie XO?

  I feel like the internet has ruined so much. It's blessed us with so much, but then again, it's also ruined so much.

• 19:22Speaker 01

  You and I wouldn't be around without the internet.

• 19:24Bunnie XO?

  Right, exactly. I definitely wouldn't. You would. You were around long before then.

• 19:29Speaker 01

  I mean, I see your numbers on Instagram and YouTube and TikTok and, and The Mari Show still has huge numbers on those platforms. But at the same time, a lot of bad things happen on the internet.

• 19:44Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 19:45Speaker 01

  And

• 19:48Speaker 01

  You know, I walk through the park. I walk through Central Park all the time. And I walk in my dog. I'm walking my dog. And everybody in the park is on their phone. And I'm telling you, if I don't bump into them, they're gonna bump into me.

• 20:01Bunnie XO?

  Right.

• 20:02Speaker 01

  They don't even look, they don't even look around.

• 20:04Bunnie XO?

  Hmm.

• 20:04Speaker 01

  They don't even smell the roses.

• 20:06Bunnie XO?

  Mm-mm. A lot of people don't look up from their phones anymore and I, I, and you know,

• 20:12Bunnie XO?

  I just feel like the world, if we just came together and were able to sort of try to heal together instead of being at each other's throats like everybody is, I think it would just make life so much better. And I, I just feel like the internet creates that divide though, because everybody can have a freaking opinion.

• 20:29Speaker 01

  Right.

• 20:30Bunnie XO?

  You know?

• 20:31Speaker 01

  So how are, how are you and your husband getting along?

• 20:33Bunnie XO?

  Oh, we're getting along great.

• 20:34Speaker 01

  You sure?

• 20:35Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 20:36Speaker 01

  If I had to show you, you wouldn't be on it.

• 20:38Bunnie XO?

  Uh, no. Heck no. I mean, listen, there were a couple of times where we had to do a-

• 20:43Speaker 01

  Oh, really?

• 20:44Bunnie XO?

  There was a couple of times at the beginning, we had to do DNA tests because, you know, my husband liked to spread his seed around before we got together. So we didn't know.

• 20:52Speaker 01

  Well, he, but he-

• 20:53Bunnie XO?

  So we might have in the beginning, but not now.

• 20:55Speaker 01

  But, but he did admit to you that when you first were seeing each other, that he had a woman who was pregnant at the time, right?

• 21:02Bunnie XO?

  Um, oh, yes. When we, so when we first got together, he was in and out of a relationship. And that is his son, um, our beautiful little Noah buddy, um, was, she was pregnant with him, but they were already broken up. And I think that's where a lot of people get the confusion and that, you know, he had cheated on me or something like that. But no, they were together for 10 years before him and I were together. And then, um, that's where Noah, his son, came from. And I love the mother of his child and I think she's a great mom.

• 21:31Speaker 01

  Yeah. And not only that, I mean, you've taken in his daughter.

• 21:35Bunnie XO?

  I have. Maury, is this your interview or my interview?

• 21:38Speaker 01

  I'm more interested in you than me. You see?

• 21:41Bunnie XO?

  Well, then I need to come on your podcast.

• 21:44Speaker 01

  Please.

• 21:44Bunnie XO?

  I would love to. Let's talk about your-

• 21:46Speaker 01

  Can you do that?

• 21:46Bunnie XO?

  Yes. Can we talk about your podcast?

• 21:48Speaker 01

  So this podcast-

• 21:51Speaker 01

  It came about because, you know, some people came to me, Holly Mirabella, my producer, had come to me and some others and said, you know, if you're interviewing, people know of you interviewing these people, you, you, you can spread your seed. I mean, come on.

• 22:08Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 22:08Speaker 01

  I mean, you had all these years interviewing people in, in the news and, and, and people who made news. I mean, so it's kind of an eclectic podcast where, I mean, I interview rappers.

• 22:24Bunnie XO?

  That's amazing.

• 22:25Speaker 01

  I interview writers.

• 22:26Bunnie XO?

  I love that.

• 22:27Speaker 01

  I, I mean, I, I interviewed a great rapper named Dave East recently, okay?

• 22:33Bunnie XO?

  Haley loves him.

• 22:36Speaker 01

  You're kidding, really?

• 22:37Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 22:37Speaker 01

  So, I interviewed Dave East and all of a sudden, you know, the comments on Instagram when we put out the clips, "Hey, Maury's still alive? I thought he died. I thought he died with Jerry Springer." I mean, all this kind of stuff is going on.

• 22:52Bunnie XO?

  That is terrible.

• 22:54Speaker 01

  I mean, you know, and then, and then all these great compliments about, you know, Maury, Maury is one of us, and you know, secretly, Maury is really one of us.

• 23:06Bunnie XO?

  The young, the younger generation, they're just always...

• 23:09Speaker 01

  But you know, I mean, I've, and rapper, and, and I'd love to have your husband.

• 23:15Bunnie XO?

  Oh, Jay will come on anytime. He loves you. Yes, absolutely.

• 23:19Speaker 01

  Do you know when I first started doing talk, and this is like 1991 when I first started, we went to Nashville for a week.

• 23:27Bunnie XO?

  Oh.

• 23:28Speaker 01

  And let me tell you, we, we had this, we used to have these young, young artists on. Guess who was the young artist we had on? Alan Jackson.

• 23:36Bunnie XO?

  Wow.

• 23:38Speaker 01

  And he was just like, this is 35 years ago.

• 23:42Bunnie XO?

  Wow.

• 23:43Speaker 01

  We had a group called Diamond Rio, which was a big deal then.

• 23:46Bunnie XO?

  Yes, I love Diamond Rio.

• 23:47Speaker 01

  So, all of the, and so I got very attached to country early on, and yet at the same time, I'm trying to get Jay-Z on the talk show, not trying to do all this other stuff.

• 23:59Bunnie XO?

  I love that. That's amazing. I love that you have always just, um, you've never been judgmental and you have always accepted all walks of life.

• 24:07Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 24:08Bunnie XO?

  I took a page from your book with my podcast, um, where I do exactly that too. I have rappers on, I have writers, journalists on, I have, you know, just an eclectic group of humans because I really feel like in order to be good at being a talk show host, you have to have an open mind. And do you think that that's what's gotten you so far in this industry?

• 24:31Speaker 01

  Absolutely. Absolutely. I, I, I don't understand judgmental people. I really don't. I don't get it. Why do you judge people like that? I mean, I mean, I want to think that there's good, there's some good in everybody and things like that. But, but, you know, I, there's, there's so much negativity.

• 24:50Bunnie XO?

  Mm hmm.

• 24:51Speaker 01

  And I just, I just can't go there. I'll tell you a story. In my career, there were some station managers and executives that did me wrong, I thought did me wrong. And I had a list of about five of them. And I said, boy, if the time ever comes, I'm going to get revenge.

• 25:15Bunnie XO?

  No.

• 25:16Speaker 01

  One by one, over the years, they all got fired. And instead of applauding, I felt sorry for them.

• 25:24Bunnie XO?

  Oh.

• 25:24Speaker 01

  And I, and I mean, you know, that's just me, I guess.

• 25:28Bunnie XO?

  You have a sweet soul.

• 25:30Speaker 01

  You think so?

• 25:30Bunnie XO?

  I do. I can tell.

• 25:32Speaker 01

  I'm going to tell my wife that.

• 25:33Bunnie XO?

  Please, I love Connie. Let's talk about Connie, can we, please? Yeah, I love.

• 25:39Speaker 01

  By the way, and, and we went through the same stuff that, that you and Jelly Roll have gone through.

• 25:46Bunnie XO?

  Really?

• 25:47Speaker 01

  And we tried to get pregnant.

• 25:50Bunnie XO?

  Oh.

• 25:51Speaker 01

  And this is, I'm telling you, this is over 30 years ago.

• 25:55Bunnie XO?

  Mm hmm.

• 25:56Speaker 01

  And so Connie, uh,

• 25:59Speaker 01

  Had to take time off from CBS and it became a big story. That we were trying to get pregnant. And late show guys, you know, Jay Leno and everybody was kind of making fun of, I wonder if Mari and Connie are doing it tonight with this. You know, doing all this kind of stuff. To the point where Fox had this great show called In Living Color.

• 26:22Bunnie XO?

  Amazing show.

• 26:23Speaker 01

  Okay. They did a skit on Connie and I in bed trying to get pregnant. And Jim Carrey played me.

• 26:31Bunnie XO?

  Oh, my gosh, I have to see that.

• 26:34Speaker 01

  It's, I mean, it's, it was the only part. So we had, you know, and there was all kinds of press and all kinds of stuff. And, and so we finally adopted because it couldn't, we couldn't do it.

• 26:47Bunnie XO?

  But still adopting is just, it's amazing.

• 26:50Speaker 01

  Wouldn't take it back now.

• 26:51Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 26:52Speaker 01

  Wouldn't, wouldn't take it back.

• 26:54Bunnie XO?

  That's amazing.

• 26:55Speaker 01

  And, uh, so anyhow, I, I know what you and Jelly Roll have gone through.

• 27:01Bunnie XO?

  Thank you. I appreciate that.

• 27:03Speaker 01

  And it's tough.

• 27:04Bunnie XO?

  It is tough, but at the same time, it's like you just put it in God's hands. And if it's meant to be, it's meant to be. And if not, we can always adopt. So I'm totally open to adoption too. So is my husband.

• 27:15Speaker 01

  I'm a big fan of adoption.

• 27:16Bunnie XO?

  Are you?

• 27:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:18Bunnie XO?

  Can you take me on that adoption journey a little bit?

• 27:20Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 27:21Bunnie XO?

  That you guys had?

• 27:21Speaker 01

  It's, uh,

• 27:25Speaker 01

  you know, it's, it's interesting. We, we have this son. He's now 30 years old. Connie is Chinese. First of all, Connie says, when we're starting to adopt, Connie says to the, the lawyer that we were hired. So we want, uh, we want a child who is half Chinese and half Jewish. And the lawyer says, you won't live long enough.

• 27:53Speaker 01

  Nobody comes up like that.

• 27:55Bunnie XO?

  Right, right.

• 27:57Speaker 01

  It's not gonna happen. So, uh, we have this guy and he's, he's just spectacular and, and, uh,

• 28:11Speaker 01

  he's now thirty, uh, he, uh, he's engaged, uh, he's, he and his girlfriend have been together for like nine or 10 years. And, uh,

• 28:21Bunnie XO?

  Did, did you guys go public back then with adopting? Did you let everybody know you were adopting or did you keep it private?

• 28:29Speaker 01

  You know what happens?

• 28:31Bunnie XO?

  Mm-mm.

• 28:32Speaker 01

  The tabloids find out. The National Enquirer found out.

• 28:36Bunnie XO?

  That's such an invasion of privacy.

• 28:38Speaker 01

  Unbelievable. I couldn't believe it. Everything was closed. It was a closed adoption and everything else. Nobody knew anything. And all of a sudden, the National Enquirer finds out everything.

• 28:50Bunnie XO?

  Hmm.

• 28:51Speaker 01

  And the only way we could keep it quiet was I had to, we had to give the Enquirer an interview after the fact.

• 29:02Bunnie XO?

  They did that to Roseanne, too.

• 29:04Speaker 01

  They did?

• 29:05Bunnie XO?

  Yes. I feel like they bullied people into like, we have this information about you. If you don't give us an interview, we're gonna out you.

• 29:12Speaker 01

  Right.

• 29:13Bunnie XO?

  That's so wrong. That's terrible journalism.

• 29:15Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, that was way back. This is, you know, 30 years ago.

• 29:18Bunnie XO?

  They could never do that now.

• 29:19Speaker 01

  No.

• 29:20Bunnie XO?

  No, it would never fly.

• 29:21Speaker 01

  No. But, uh, I mean, it's a blessing.

• 29:25Bunnie XO?

  It is a blessing.

• 29:26Speaker 01

  Adoption is a blessing.

• 29:26Bunnie XO?

  Absolutely. It's a blessing. And you have two kids of your own, too, also from a previous marriage.

• 29:32Speaker 01

  They're much older. I have four grandchildren of them and, you know, they're, they're doing great. Uh, my daughters, Susan and Amy, and they're terrific. And, and so we're,

• 29:42Bunnie XO?

  A blended family.

• 29:44Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yeah. We're a blended family. I think, I think that says it all.

• 29:51Bunnie XO?

  I love that, though. That is so awesome. So, take me back to the first time that you met Mrs.

• 29:59Speaker 01

  My, my wife Connie?

• 30:01Bunnie XO?

  Yes, Mrs. Connie.

• 30:02Speaker 01

  Well, here's the thing. She...

• 30:06Speaker 01

  How can I explain this? I'm working in Washington. It's my first TV job. And I'm getting to be pretty big. I'm doing sports, I'm doing news, and I'm doing a local talk show. And I'm okay. And so, the news director hires this person as his assistant. Fine. Her name is Connie Chung. We don't spend much time about it. You know, copy girl around the office. And then, what happens is, when we really knew Connie was gonna be important was, the first job that comes up is a writer's job on the desk to write the newscasts. She wants the job.

• 30:50Speaker 01

  The news director says, "No, you're my secretary." Nope, I want the job. And then, the news director says, "If you want the job, you have to replace yourself." Connie walks out of the newsroom, across the street, into the bank, looks at the first woman teller, says, "You wanna be in TV? Come with me." Walks her down, gets to the news director, gets this teller the job that she had, and she becomes the first job she had in the business.

• 31:20Bunnie XO?

  That's amazing.

• 31:21Speaker 01

  And within a year or two, she's off to work at CBS News.

• 31:26Bunnie XO?

  Let's talk about when you... Was that what attracted you to her?

• 31:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, no. I mean, I was married at the time. She went on to a big career at CBS News in Washington, and then she went to Los Angeles to become a big star anchor for CBS out there. And then, I, in my, as I said, odyssey years, traveling around the country, I end up as her second banana in Los Angeles.

• 31:54Bunnie XO?

  It was destiny.

• 31:56Speaker 01

  And then, at one point...

• 32:03Speaker 01

  Uh, six months after I get there, I had a general manager who hired me, then he was fired. Then the new general manager fired me, you know, last hired, first fired. And so I'm fired. The only person I know is Connie. And so a bit later on, I mean, the first, in order, I always say this, in order for her to love me, she had to pity me first.

• 32:27Bunnie XO?

  Oh, stop it.

• 32:29Speaker 01

  So we started to date. We never, we dated for seven and a half years.

• 32:33Bunnie XO?

  That is a long time.

• 32:34Speaker 01

  Before we got married and never lived together.

• 32:37Bunnie XO?

  Wow.

• 32:38Speaker 01

  And, and did not date exclusively.

• 32:41Bunnie XO?

  Okay.

• 32:43Speaker 01

  You know about that, right?

• 32:44Bunnie XO?

  Of course, yes.

• 32:46Speaker 01

  And so years later, we're, we're dating off and on and I ask her to marry me. She doesn't want to. She asked me to marry. I don't want to. And then she calls me up one day in 1984 and says, uh, we can get married now. And I said, how come? She says, because I found a dress.

• 33:06Bunnie XO?

  Ah, I think you guys are soulmates. That is amazing.

• 33:10Speaker 01

  Forty, almost forty-one years ago.

• 33:12Bunnie XO?

  One thing I love about your podcast with her too, is that you are always, okay, so Connie is like, from what I perceive, she's so like, she's kind of bottled up. She's not gonna just, she's very poised. And you, on the other hand, say the craziest stuff and like, get her to react while she's on the podcast. And it is the funniest thing to watch. But you guys ended up having a viral moment. Can we talk about, well, you've had a couple.

• 33:40Speaker 01

  Yeah. So we did this thing on the podcast where, uh, she was gonna, I was gonna ask her a question. She doesn't know. She was gonna ask me. So, uh, she picks up this thing in the, in the pot, these various questions and what is, I mean, it's like a, you know, it's, it's like a Chinese cookie or something. Pulls it out and it says, Mari, when are you the most sexiest? And.

• 34:07Speaker 01

  The only thing I said is, "On Sundays." And she says, "What do you mean?" I said, "What do you mean? You know what I mean." I mean, it's Sundays with Connie." And she goes, she goes like this.

• 34:20Bunnie XO?

  I saw it.

• 34:21Speaker 01

  And so, it went viral, you know?

• 34:24Bunnie XO?

  There was also another clip that went viral, where you guys were talking about cheating.

• 34:28Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 34:28Bunnie XO?

  And, I mean, I understood where you were coming from, because I could read between the lines. But I think the internet kind of ran with it. And they were, they just turned it into something it wasn't. Can we elaborate on that conversation?

• 34:41Speaker 01

  It was just, you know, I always used to say, when we were seeing each other, not exclusively, I said, "You were dating these Hollywood stars."

• 34:49Bunnie XO?

  Does she talk about this in her book?

• 34:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:51Bunnie XO?

  Okay.

• 34:52Speaker 01

  She does. She does. And so, you're dating these stars. And, and then she says, "Yeah, and you're dating people you can't even remember the first names." And so, I mean, I said, "Oh, we're not going there, Connie. We're just not going there." I mean, she comes up with some outlandish stuff. I mean, it's kind of, I mean, I...

• 35:15Bunnie XO?

  What do you, what do you think Connie has taught you? Being married to Connie for as long as you have, you said 41 years. What is the biggest lesson that you think Connie has taught you in marriage? Because obviously, something's working. Forty-one years?

• 35:27Speaker 01

  I know exactly what it is. I mean, I know exactly how to play it. For the last 41 years, in our life, I am Mr. Chung. I am not Maury Povich, I am Mr. Chung. The first time, we, when we got married, I was living in Washington, she was living in New York. She was working at NBC. And so, she was living in this apartment, and I would come up on the weekends. It's kind of like you two, you know? You don't see each other for a while.

• 35:55Bunnie XO?

  And he's in the same city as me right now.

• 35:58Speaker 01

  And you're still not seeing each other.

• 35:59Bunnie XO?

  Well, we, we try to, but it's just, you know, when you're working, you know how it is.

• 36:02Speaker 01

  So, I come, and I'm working in Washington, and I come up, and, and there's the doorman at her building. And I said, "My name's Maury Povich. I'm Connie Chung's husband." "Oh, you are?" And he calls up and said, "Ms. Chung, Mr. Chung is downstairs." So, that's the way it's been for 41 years. And that's the way I want it to continue.

• 36:27Bunnie XO?

  But to be so secure, most men would hate that. You know what I'm saying? And you are just like, so in awe of your wife.

• 36:34Speaker 01

  I want to tell you, I mean... Our paths could cross in another way, okay? I know what you did for Jelly Roll.

• 36:43Bunnie XO?

  Oh, thank you.

• 36:44Speaker 01

  And I know what you did in terms of getting him his daughter, getting him off the street, getting him in an apartment, and setting him up for success. My wife made a lot more money when we got married than I did.

• 36:59Bunnie XO?

  Wow.

• 37:00Speaker 01

  And I was the full support of my girls, and she helped me in that area when they were going to college.

• 37:09Bunnie XO?

  Oh.

• 37:10Speaker 01

  So, I mean, I can relate a lot to what Jelly Roll went through with you, and how much he thanked you for what you did for him. And I do the same thing with my wife. I mean, you know, there are times, everybody thinks because you've been successful so long, it was always that way.

• 37:30Bunnie XO?

  Right.

• 37:30Speaker 01

  It wasn't. I mean, I was fired, I was this, I mean, I bummed around. I mean, I had a lot of failures along with the success.

• 37:45Bunnie XO?

  But I think that's what made you the band that you are today. And shout out to Connie Chung for being a real one. Let's just, we'll give her her props on that story that you just told us. So, let's bounce off the fact that you were just talking about how you were, you know, broke in certain aspects, and that you weren't as big as you had wanted to be. What is the most humbling moment for you in life before you hit it big?

• 38:09Speaker 01

  I'll tell you what it was. You were mentioning my father. My father was probably the most read writer in all of Washington DC, whether it be a political writer or a sportswriter. Everybody read my father. He was a big name. And so, in Los Angeles, when I got fired from this station, I was also getting a divorce. And I had to call my parents and tell them, because I knew when I was getting fired, so it was going to end up in the paper. And so, they were going to see it. So, I called up.

• 38:49Speaker 01

  Calling my father and I said, Dad, uh, I got some bad news and some bad news. And I told him I was getting fired and that I was getting divorced. And I was scared to death what his reaction would be. And there was this long pause and he said, "Get all the sharp instruments out of the house and come home and give your mother a hug."

• 39:16Bunnie XO?

  Oh, my goodness.

• 39:17Speaker 01

  I never expected that out of him. I mean, this was a, you know, a dominating, dominant guy. I mean, our, our family was always from the top down. I mean, it was like, you know, you did what your parents said or else. I mean, and I couldn't believe that he had that kind of sensitivity in that moment.

• 39:38Bunnie XO?

  And that was exactly what you, what you needed. That like made me tear up a little bit. That's a really a beautiful story. Can we talk about your mom for a second? Cause I feel like we're always talking about dad and his accolades.

• 39:48Speaker 01

  You know, and my mother had a great line about that.

• 39:50Bunnie XO?

  What'd she say?

• 39:51Speaker 01

  Because with my brother and my sister and me, and we were always attached to my father. And every time it was, we were mentioned, it was always about my father. And my mother used to say, "You poor, motherless children." That's how she looked on it. Because she was a housewife and she was a mom and, and a, and a wife. And that she raised us because back then, my father, because he was a sportswriter, he would travel, you know, maybe a third to a half the year following the baseball team or following this event or that sporting event. And so therefore he wasn't around that much. And so my mother, uh, my mother had to be the mother and the father.

• 40:34Bunnie XO?

  She kept it grounded.

• 40:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:35Bunnie XO?

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• 41:16Bunnie XO?

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• 42:41Bunnie XO?

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• 42:49Speaker 01

  I tell you, I still remember, I still remember something when I was, I was kind of a mischievous kid. Among the three, I was kind of the middle child, mischievous. And I'll never forget, I did something wrong at around 10 or 11 years old and she was so mad at me, she came up with a broomstick to my room and she said, I'm gonna hit the hell out of you. And she did.

• 43:17Bunnie XO?

  Maury, what did you do?

• 43:19Speaker 01

  I can't remember what I, I can't remember, it could have been anything, I don't know, I mean, you know, I was, I was kind of a pissy kid, you know, but I'll never forget, my mother, my mother, not my father, my mother, I mean, I had my mother, my father used to wash my mouth out with soap because the first time I, I used the F word at that dinner table.

• 43:41Bunnie XO?

  Not the dinner table, Maury.

• 43:42Speaker 01

  Well, I told you I was a mischievous kid.

• 43:45Bunnie XO?

  I love that though, I think, I think your mischievousness is what has, and your wit also in your interviews, like you can, that mischievousness still carries with you now.

• 43:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think, I think it, yeah, I think it's part of me.

• 44:00Bunnie XO?

  It's your charm, it's part of your charm.

• 44:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm, I'm a little bit that way.

• 44:05Bunnie XO?

  I love that. So here, let's talk about how I discovered you. I didn't discover you from The Maury Povich Show.

• 44:12Speaker 01

  Really?

• 44:12Bunnie XO?

  I discovered you on A Current Affair.

• 44:14Speaker 01

  You did?

• 44:14Bunnie XO?

  I was obsessed. I watched it.

• 44:16Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 44:17Bunnie XO?

  All the time. A Current Affair was my jam.

• 44:20Speaker 01

  It was the reason why I, I became a success.

• 44:24Bunnie XO?

  Mm-hmm.

• 44:24Speaker 01

  If it wasn't for that show, Murdoch brings me, I'm, I'm anchoring the local news in Washington in 1986, and I get a call to go see Mr. Murdoch in New York. I don't know the guy, he owns the station. He comes up, he introduces me to these Australians, all of these wild, crazy Australian producers that he had brought over from Australia. And he says, I have a, I have this idea for a show. I said, yeah. I says, we're gonna call it A Current Affair. And I said, so what is it? He says, well, you'll figure it out with these guys. And I said, what do you mean? He said, and not only that, knowing that you're commuting with your wife, you, now you're gonna be living with her, you'll find

• 45:07Speaker 01

  out whether you can stay together or not. And so, that's how it all happened. We had these crazy, wild stories that we were doing that were so different than everybody else was doing. I mean, we- The stories we would do, the network news divisions would have those stories in the trash can. They wouldn't even touch them. But as soon as we got successful, all of a sudden, all the network news shows were doing the same stories we were doing. Jim and Tammy Faye Baker, all the scandals that were going on. This, I mean, it all led to, of course, OJ and the Bronco and everything else. I mean, it was Joey Buttafuoco. It was, uh...

• 45:46Bunnie XO?

  What a time to be alive. We have so many good...

• 45:49Speaker 01

  You like all that stuff.

• 45:50Bunnie XO?

  I love it all because I grew up in that era. So that's my childhood, you know? But I mean, I believe that A Current Affair walked so TMZ could run. TMZ is literally what A Current Affair used to be.

• 46:02Speaker 01

  Oh, no. And by the way, he worked on those shows.

• 46:06Bunnie XO?

  Did he?

• 46:07Speaker 01

  Of course he did.

• 46:08Bunnie XO?

  Wow.

• 46:09Speaker 01

  That's where he came from.

• 46:10Bunnie XO?

  Wow, okay.

• 46:11Speaker 01

  It's all an extension.

• 46:12Bunnie XO?

  Wow.

• 46:13Speaker 01

  TMZ would not exist without A Current Affair.

• 46:17Bunnie XO?

  Without you. Without Maury, the godfather.

• 46:20Speaker 01

  I still see these clips. You know Charlie Sheen has a documentary out?

• 46:25Bunnie XO?

  I'm excited. I haven't watched it yet. Have you?

• 46:27Speaker 01

  I watched the first part. Guess what? There I am, anchoring A Current Affair on the Charlie Sheen documentary.

• 46:34Bunnie XO?

  I love that.

• 46:35Speaker 01

  About him and Kelly Preston.

• 46:36Bunnie XO?

  Have you, have you ran into Charlie?

• 46:38Speaker 01

  No, I don't know Charlie.

• 46:39Bunnie XO?

  You don't know him?

• 46:40Speaker 01

  Do you know him?

• 46:41Bunnie XO?

  No, no.

• 46:42Speaker 01

  Well, why not?

• 46:43Bunnie XO?

  Why would I?

• 46:44Speaker 01

  I don't know.

• 46:45Bunnie XO?

  You would have more of a reason to run into him.

• 46:48Speaker 01

  I don't know.

• 46:49Bunnie XO?

  I might be as tight, but I don't think I've seen him.

• 46:52Speaker 01

  I know your background.

• 46:53Bunnie XO?

  Oh, shh, don't tell anybody. Nobody knows. No, I'm just kidding. I'm kidding.

• 46:57Speaker 01

  And I know Charlie's rep.

• 46:59Bunnie XO?

  Are you stereotyping me?

• 47:02Speaker 01

  No, I'm not saying anything, buddy.

• 47:03Bunnie XO?

  Are you stereotyping me, Maury?

• 47:04Speaker 01

  No, I would never say anything like that.

• 47:07Bunnie XO?

  Totally playing with you. That's amazing. All right. So let's switch gears because you have, you've retired now in 2022. What does a day for Maury look like in retirement?

• 47:19Speaker 01

  Uh, okay. I, I don't know if I've read this about you. I'm a, I'm a morning person. I get up very early.

• 47:26Bunnie XO?

  What is very early for you?

• 47:28Speaker 01

  Six.

• 47:29Bunnie XO?

  Wow, that is early.

• 47:30Speaker 01

  I get up around six. I, uh, I walk, I take the dog out to Central Park or in Montana, I take the dog out. On Montana, you don't take the dog out. You let the dog out.

• 47:43Speaker 01

  And then I make my own, I've made my own breakfast for 60 years.

• 47:47Bunnie XO?

  What do you eat for breakfast?

• 47:49Speaker 01

  Eggs every morning.

• 47:50Bunnie XO?

  Like, how do you like them? Cause I'm an egg connoisseur.

• 47:52Speaker 01

  I like them scrambled. I like them over. I don't like them up. I like them poached when I can find the right poacher.

• 48:00Bunnie XO?

  So you don't like runny eggs?

• 48:01Speaker 01

  Can you teach me how to poach them perfectly?

• 48:03Bunnie XO?

  I, I just get them poached for me. I can't do it. I, the poaching is an art.

• 48:07Speaker 01

  It is.

• 48:07Bunnie XO?

  It really is an art. You cannot.

• 48:09Speaker 01

  Connie can do it. I can't.

• 48:10Bunnie XO?

  Connie can do everything. I love her.

• 48:12Speaker 01

  I know.

• 48:13Bunnie XO?

  I love how much you love her though.

• 48:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, she, she doesn't poach eggs for me because she's not a morning person. And she gets up, you know, at a crack of 10, you know, something like that. And so.

• 48:24Bunnie XO?

  Girl after my own heart.

• 48:25Speaker 01

  So then I take the dog out and then I come back and then I start reading, you know, whether it be on the phone and we still, old, old farts that we are, we still have newspapers coming in the print version.

• 48:37Bunnie XO?

  Oh, that's a dying art too.

• 48:40Speaker 01

  Yeah. I mean, you don't, you don't read the paper anymore. You read on your phone.

• 48:44Bunnie XO?

  Everybody does.

• 48:45Speaker 01

  And so, uh, and then I play a lot of golf.

• 48:49Bunnie XO?

  Yes. My husband plays golf.

• 48:51Speaker 01

  Does he like it?

• 48:52Bunnie XO?

  He loves it. You guys should play golf together.

• 48:55Speaker 01

  I wanna, I want, I want you to know something. Did he love golf before you got married?

• 49:00Bunnie XO?

  Uh, no, he found it after his father passed.

• 49:03Speaker 01

  This is a problem. This is a problem. In my first marriage, I got the golf addiction after I got married.

• 49:10Bunnie XO?

  Really?

• 49:10Speaker 01

  And because I spent so much time on the course, it could have been one of the reasons why the marriage ended. So if you're, if it's okay with you.

• 49:21Bunnie XO?

  I love that he loves golf and I, I go with him sometimes or like, like I totally.

• 49:26Speaker 01

  Just ride in the cart and something like that?

• 49:28Bunnie XO?

  We're literally, no, I'll play with him.

• 49:29Speaker 01

  Oh, good.

• 49:30Bunnie XO?

  We literally are like, a lot like how you and Connie are. We just support each other in everything that we do. And I truly feel like that is a testament of longstanding relationships is you let the other person just be who they need to be.

• 49:44Speaker 01

  Long leash is important.

• 49:45Bunnie XO?

  Yes, absolutely.

• 49:48Speaker 01

  If you trust them, long leash is very important.

• 49:52Bunnie XO?

  And I think that's how you build trust, is having a long leash. If you have a short leash, you're controlling everything that person's doing.

• 49:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 49:58Bunnie XO?

  They're, they're gonna, human nature is to rebel. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, I think the longer the leash, the longer the relationship.

• 50:05Speaker 01

  The only time I really get upset at her is when I go into the bathroom. And things aren't where they were yesterday.

• 50:13Bunnie XO?

  Oh, no. Are you a perfectionist?

• 50:17Speaker 01

  She, no, she is the perfectionist. Me, I just want this, I just wanna know where the things are that were there yesterday in that spot and not somewhere else in another cabinet and all that. And she moving things around.

• 50:31Bunnie XO?

  But do you put the toilet seat down?

• 50:32Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 50:33Bunnie XO?

  Okay, good. Yay, then you're a good one.

• 50:36Speaker 01

  I know all about that.

• 50:37Bunnie XO?

  Oh, I love that.

• 50:38Speaker 01

  That was an early on lesson.

• 50:40Bunnie XO?

  How did you guys end up in Montana?

• 50:43Speaker 01

  Well, it's, I said to Connie one time, this is almost 30 years ago. I said, we ought to go to Montana. And she said, what do you mean? I said, it's the only contiguous state that I'd never been to. I've been to Hawaii, I've never been to Alaska. But I hadn't, I've been to 49, 47 states. I hadn't been to Montana. I said, let's, uh, let's go, let's go buy a home in Montana. She said, don't you think we ought to go there first? I said, well, okay. So in 1998, we went to Montana. We found a house to rent. We loved it so much. We looked around and, uh, my friend said, the best house is this house.

• 51:27Speaker 01

  And I went to the guy, I said, I wanna buy your house. He said, I didn't wanna rent you my house. I didn't wanna rent you my house. And now you wanna buy my house? I said, not only do I wanna buy it, I want you to leave all the furniture. I want you to leave, leave the cars, leave the furniture, leave the boat, leave everything. And he did.

• 51:45Bunnie XO?

  Oh, that's amazing.

• 51:48Speaker 01

  Twenty-eight years.

• 51:49Bunnie XO?

  Wow.

• 51:50Speaker 01

  And we found, we created after, 17 years ago. Sometimes you're really nuts. And Connie and I created a weekly newspaper in Montana.

• 52:03Bunnie XO?

  I read about that.

• 52:04Speaker 01

  Called the Flathead Beacon and it's won every award in the state. And it's a great local newspaper. Uh, you started out as print, now it's online. Everybody loves it. Doesn't matter what the political stripe is in the, in the whole Flathead Valley in Montana. Everybody loves the paper. And even the politicians, doesn't matter whether you're Republican or Democrat. Everybody loves the paper.

• 52:28Bunnie XO?

  I love that.

• 52:29Speaker 01

  Of course, it's not making any money.

• 52:31Bunnie XO?

  But it's a passion project.

• 52:33Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 52:33Bunnie XO?

  So I think it makes you guys feel good.

• 52:35Speaker 01

  Legacy to my father and that's what Connie says, so.

• 52:38Bunnie XO?

  Absolutely. And those things are priceless. You can't put monetary value on something like that, especially, you know, from your background and where you come from.

• 52:48Speaker 01

  So do you like Nashville?

• 52:49Bunnie XO?

  I love Nashville now. I didn't like it at first. It, you know, being a Vegas girl, moving to Nashville, it was like, this was a culture shock.

• 52:57Speaker 01

  You're up all night, an all night town to?

• 53:00Bunnie XO?

  Pretty much. Access to anything 24/7 to, you know, people being a lot more modest and just.

• 53:05Speaker 01

  So how did you grow to like it?

• 53:07Bunnie XO?

  I fell in love with, um, the slow life. You know, it's kind of like how, how do you go from Washington DC to Montana?

• 53:15Speaker 01

  Right, exactly.

• 53:15Bunnie XO?

  It's like you have to fall in love with, you have to really get to know yourself in, uh, slow places. And I think I had to discover who I was outside of my Vegas persona. And, um, you know, I just.

• 53:27Speaker 01

  Did you go there because of Jelly Roll?

• 53:29Bunnie XO?

  I did. I moved there for him, which I don't recommend to anybody. I've, I feel like if you're in a relationship and you've been with somebody for a long time, then make that move. But my husband and I got married a month after meeting and I made that jump.

• 53:43Speaker 01

  A month?

• 53:43Bunnie XO?

  It happened to work out. We got married a month after meeting.

• 53:47Speaker 01

  And that was what, seven, eight years ago?

• 53:49Bunnie XO?

  Nine.

• 53:50Speaker 01

  Nine.

• 53:50Bunnie XO?

  Nine, yeah. We've known each other 10 years, married nine.

• 53:54Speaker 01

  A month after.

• 53:55Bunnie XO?

  A month, and we made it work, Maury. But that's why I was so amazed when you told me that you and Connie dated for seven years, because I was like, whoa, that is amazing. Like, how did you do that, you know?

• 54:06Speaker 01

  Well, I had come out of a marriage and didn't want to get married. And Connie was so involved in her business. I mean, she always says, I forgot to get married, and then I forgot to have a child.

• 54:18Bunnie XO?

  Oh, she's great. I would love to meet her one day. I was, you know what, my husband and I are actually thinking about going to Montana for Thanksgiving to bring our family out there. So if we do come out there, we would love to have you and Connie come over for dinner. That would be amazing. All right, so I'm going to ask you a closing question.

• 54:36Speaker 01

  Yes, my dear.

• 54:37Bunnie XO?

  And thank you so much for your time today.

• 54:39Speaker 01

  No, I loved it.

• 54:40Bunnie XO?

  It's been amazing just getting to...

• 54:41Speaker 01

  You're very easy to talk to.

• 54:43Bunnie XO?

  Thank you, I appreciate that. You've interviewed politicians, celebrities, everyday people.

• 54:49Speaker 01

  Right.

• 54:49Bunnie XO?

  Who taught you the most?

• 54:51Speaker 01

  Who taught me the most?

• 54:52Bunnie XO?

  Who taught you the most out of everybody that you've interviewed?

• 54:56Speaker 01

  That's really... Guess what? That's a good question.

• 54:59Bunnie XO?

  Oh, yes.

• 55:01Speaker 01

  Never had it.

• 55:02Bunnie XO?

  Really?

• 55:03Speaker 01

  Never had it. I've had, you know, who would you like to interview, stuff like that.

• 55:09Speaker 01

  Believe it or not, I think all the people on the talk show.

• 55:13Bunnie XO?

  Wow.

• 55:15Speaker 01

  It, you know, after doing news for all those years and then getting into this very intimate talk show. I think those guests brought more out of me than I thought I had. And so therefore, I think that whole experience, that 30-year experience,

• 55:38Speaker 01

  because of the guests, because of the individual stories, because of the fact with DNA testing that it's possible that I could have gotten another parent into the lives of those kids, because we all know that a child has a better shot with two parents than one.

• 55:57Speaker 01

  And, and those stories, I think...

• 56:01Speaker 01

  Gave me a great feeling of satisfaction.

• 56:05Bunnie XO?

  You're such a special human.

• 56:07Speaker 01

  Oh, no, I don't know about that.

• 56:08Bunnie XO?

  No, I hope you know that, and I appreciate you being here and making time to come on my podcast.

• 56:14Speaker 01

  Well, it's beautiful. And now you and your husband come on On Par with Maury Povich.

• 56:19Bunnie XO?

  We're coming anytime you want. Maybe when we're in Montana, we can do it. That would be great.

• 56:23Speaker 01

  Thank you, dear.

• 56:24Bunnie XO?

  Tell people where they can find your podcast and listen to it.

• 56:27Speaker 01

  OnParPod on all of Instagram, whatever, whatever. The podcast is on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts.

• 56:39Bunnie XO?

  All of it.

• 56:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 56:41Bunnie XO?

  Maury, thank you so much. I can't wait to hug you.

• 56:43Speaker 01

  Me too.

• 56:43Bunnie XO?

  All right. Thank you, guys, for listening to another podcast. I'll talk to you guys next week. Bye.