Les Moonves Bio, Age, Family, Wife, MeToo movement, Net Worth, CBS Corporation

Who is Les Moonves? – Biography

Les Moonves was the chairman and CEO of CBS Corporation from 2003 until his departure in September 2018, following many allegations of sexual harassment, assault, and abuse. 

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How old is Les Moonves? – Age

He is 72 years old as of 6 October 2021. He was born in 1949 in New York, New York, United States.

Les Moonves Family – Education

He was born into a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York City, to Josephine (Schleifer) and Herman Moonves, and raised in Valley Stream, New York. His mother was a registered nurse. Melissa Moonves Colon is his sister, and he has two brothers, including entertainment attorney Jonathan Moonves. He graduated from Valley Stream Central High School and Bucknell University in 1971. He shifted his major from pre-medical to Spanish (a subject he found far more fun) in his sophomore year and acted in a few plays; after graduation in 1971, he relocated to Manhattan to pursue an acting career, eventually graduating from the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre.

Who is Les Moonves’s wife?

Moonves married Nancy Wiesenfeld in 1978, and they have three children, one of whom is W magazine editor in chief Sara Moonves.  Nancy Moonves filed for divorce in Los Angeles Superior Court in April 2003, alleging irreconcilable differences as the reason. Nancy and Les Moonves had already separated.

Moonves began dating Julie Chen, a CBS reporter and host of the reality show Big Brother, in 2004, while his divorce from Nancy was still pending. Moonves was granted an early divorce on December 10, 2004, after filing a motion stating a “want to return to the state of being single.” He married Chen thirteen days later in Mexico. Chen gave birth to a son in 2009.

Les Moonves Photo
Les Moonves Photo

Les Moonves MeToo movement

Moonves supported the #MeToo movement during his time at CBS, calling it a “watershed moment” in the workplace. He also served on the Commission on Sexual Harassment and Advancement of Equality in the Workplace as a founding member. In a first-person piece published in May 2019, advice writer E. Jean Carroll claimed that Moonves sexually assaulted her in an elevator in the mid-1990s after she interviewed him for a story.

Les Moonves Janet Jackson

Moonves was discovered to have been obsessed with damaging R&B singer-songwriter Janet Jackson’s career after he was fired from CBS. His actions were in response to the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy, commonly known as Nipplegate, which occurred on February 1, 2004. Jackson’s left breast, which was adorned with a nipple silver sun protection, had been purposefully exposed for 9/16ths of a second by ex-NSYNC (‘N Sync) frontman Justin Timberlake.

What is Les Moonves’s Net Worth?

He has an estimated net worth of $100 million.