The Surprising Reason a Legendary Journalist Adopted a 'Potty Mouth' and 'Bravado' to Save Her Career

The May 13 premiere of HBO Max's documentary, The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas, is an eye-opening picture of the struggles some of Hollywood's favorite actors have endured. Actors and celebrities like Bowen Yang, Sandra Oh, Kumail Nanjiani, and Connie Chung reflect on the subtle-and not-so-subtle-racism they've encountered in their lives and careers.

Chung's family immigrated from China to Washington, D.C. in 1945, and a year later, she was born. Her father was a news fanatic, which she inherited from him. Despite her reserved demeanor, she decided to pursue a career in journalism.

"I really felt this was where I wanted to be: a gumshoe reporter, an old-fashioned one who could run down the marble staircase at the Capitol, and try and find out secrets that people were holding from us," Chung, 79, told PEOPLE in 2024.

However, being a female journalist in the 1970s and an Asian female made her career trajectory difficult. Surrounded by white males, she "was a lone wolf. I decided that I, too, would be a white male," she explained in the documentary.

"I literally took on all of their behavior," she continued. "Bravado, decided I was entitled, and I had a potty mouth. I had, oh, such a potty mouth. And it was so unbecoming because here I was, a little lotus blossom with these foul words coming out of my mouth."

"Anytime they'd throw something at me that was either racist or sexist, I'd throw it right back at them," she added.

Chung persevered, going on to work as a CBS Evening News correspondent before becoming a co-anchor for CBS's Los Angeles local news channel. After briefly switching to NBC, she returned to CBS in 1989. In 1993, Chung became the first woman to co-anchor the CBS Evening News. After leaving CBS in 1995, she worked for ABC and CNN.

In 2006, she and her husband, Maury Povich, hosted Weekends with Maury and Connie. Due to low ratings, it was canceled after six months. Chung hasn't anchored another show since.

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This story was originally published May 13, 2026 at 10:38 AM.