As Moonves withdraws, Julie Chen's CBS Jobs is under consideration – Variety

Julie Chen remains an integral part of two television programs of CBS Corp., even though her husband, the former CEO of Leslie Moonves, left the company in a cloud. This embarrassing situation provoked speculation as to whether she could continue her work.

Viewers of "The Talk", one of the two CBS series Chen is hosting, have not heard from him this week following the forced resignation of Moonves on Sunday. Moonves was overthrown just hours after the CBS Corp. board of directors. announced that Moonves would leave the company when multiple charges of sexual misconduct were brought against him. He denied many of the allegations.

"I take a few days off to talk with my family. I'll be back soon and see you tonight on "Big Brother," Chen said in a statement just before the release of "The Talk" on Monday. Her other co-hosts, including Sharon Osbourne and Sara Gilbert, discussed the impact of Moonves' departure on the two episodes aired this week.

A spokesman for CBS Entertainment refused to expose Chen's statement. A representative from Chen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Chen's status at CBS is not the most pressing issue for the CBS board, said Charles Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. "Their careers are separate," said Elson of Moonves and Chen. "The question for the council is between them and him," he added. Chen's job, he added, "is a secondary issue."

But it can be tricky. Chen might find it difficult to participate in certain "The Talk" shows, especially because the presenters occasionally talk about their personal lives. The episodes this week would be particularly painful for anyone in his situation.

On Tuesday, the co-organizers of "Talk" opposed the disclosure that CBS could not conduct its investigation of Moonves and the cultural public of the company. "I think it would be difficult to work in a company with the impression that things are not going to be told, things go wrong, or things are done that put women or anyone in a compromising position. You want to feel like you're going public, "said Gilbert on Tuesday's episode.

"I do not like it because the situation is that anyone else who is a powerful CEO of a public company can do the same thing if it happens again," co-host Osbourne said on Tuesday.

Osbourne had already expressed qualified support for Moonves and Chen after the first wave of allegations against Moonves in Ronan Farrow's July 27 report in the New Yorker. But in light of troubling allegations in Farrow's 9 September story, Osbourne took a firmer stance. "How will women feel comfortable in the workplace if they still think that power and money will end up on their heads?" She added. This is not fair for women. It will never end.

Staying on "Big Brother" could be an easier task for Chen, who has been hosting the US version of the program since its inception in 2000. The work does not require personal disclosure, but a direct report on the actions of participants in the show, who must live together in a house under constant surveillance, as well as interviews with them.