(Viking; on-sale June 16, 2015; 978-0-525-42745-2; $28.95)
Today, The MOM Initiative is honored to have Gretchen Carlson share a little Q & A interview with us!
I’ve been a fan of Gretchen’s for quite some time and love how the Lord has used her to demonstrate the principles of faith, hard work, overcoming odds and obstacles, and getting real about real life as a woman, as a wife, as a mom, and as professional business woman.
So, without further adéu here is the author of GETTING REAL, Gretchen Carlson!
Q: Why did you decide to write GETTING REAL?
A: When people watch me on TV they see part of my life. I wanted to let them know the real me behind the scenes. The child who was a concert violinist from the age of six. The young woman who took on the challenge to compete in the Miss America pageant. The television journalist for twenty-five years. The mother of two who, just like most women, struggles to balance work and family. The battles I’ve fought. How I’ve come back from failure and disappointment. Thanks to my upbringing, I always believed in myself and worked as hard as I could to get where I wanted to be. Nothing was ever handed to me. My hope is that when people read my story, it will inspire them to reach for their goals and not give up. The real story is this: if I can do it, you can too.
Q: Were there any events early in your career that almost made you reconsider a career in the public eye?
A: On my first job at WRIC-TV in Richmond, Virginia, I started getting creepy love letters from a man I didn’t know. He seemed to think we had an ongoing relationship and were going to get married. In Getting Real, I talk for the first time about the terrifying years-long ordeal of being hounded by a stalker. Before law enforcement intervened, he pursued me relentlessly for years, even sending me an engagement ring and saying he was going to take me away for a romantic honeymoon. He also stalked my parents. Once it was over, I never talked about it, but I decided to tell the story in my book because I know that countless other women have endured the same threat, and unless they’re famous, their experiences go unnoticed. The man who made my life hell for years, and who might have kidnapped or killed me, received a sentence of less than a year in jail. His rights were better protected than mine.
Q: You describe being sexually harassed as Miss America, and later in your career. Why do you feel it is important to speak out about this?
A: I wasn’t naïve, but at the end of my Miss America year, when two different executives attacked me during what I thought were informational interviews about jobs, I was shocked. I didn’t see it coming, and the worst thing about it was the shame I felt, as if I’d done something wrong. Later, on my first television job, it happened again when I was sexually harassed by a cameraman. Today’s companies are more attuned to the issue, but the young women I talk to are still reluctant to report sexual harassment—just like I was–for fear that it will hurt their careers. My hope is that with more women in the workplace, we can teach younger generations to be respectful, and also encourage young women to speak up when they’ve experienced abuse. It’s equally important that we raise our sons to be accepting of women in the workplace and grow into men who model that respect.
Q: It’s been said that women don’t help one another out in the workplace. Has that been your experience? Why do you feel it is important for women to support each other professionally?
A: No—just the opposite. I was fortunate to have two strong female role models in the early years of my career. One gave me the chance to be a political reporter when I was inexperienced, and for me it was sink or swim. The second gave me the opportunity to be part of the first two-female anchor team in prime time television and, when it ultimately failed and I got fired, she ended up giving me a second chance in a whole new city. I believe strongly in being a mentor myself, and I seek out young women and interns and try to help them. Women mentors were important to me, and I want to do that for others. I’m thrilled when I am able to give someone an early boost in her career.
Q: How do you feel about balancing work, family, and home life? Do you believe women can “have it all”?
A: The first time I was asked whether women can “have it all” was at the Miss America pageant. I said no. I didn’t mean that women shouldn’t fully pursue their dreams, only that we need to be honest with ourselves. I’m a person who likes to give 100 percent to everything I do. I want to be the best at my job and as a mother. But I’m not superwoman. It’s impossible to do everything 100 percent all of the time. And suggesting that women should be able to do it only puts more pressure on them.
Q: Have there been any moments in your career in which you felt like you had failed? How did you overcome this?
A: It’s the time I got fired from my television anchor job in Cleveland. A week after returning from my honeymoon, the general manager told me they were going in a different direction but that I’d be okay because I was now married. I was humiliated and depressed. I never talked about my firing until recently. One of life’s most important lessons is truly appreciating success through failure. I teach my kids that no one wins every time, and it’s the lessons you take from failure that will shape your success.
Q: Are you a feminist?
A: Yes, of course I consider myself a feminist, but I hate that word because it’s gotten a bad rap. You’re not going to meet another person who feels as strongly as I do about women’s rights—whether that’s equal pay, equal opportunity, or any other issue. I’m not a card-carrying member of the National Organization for Women. But I’ve always been up front about supporting women. My mom used to complain about me talking about it too much—until she became the CEO of a company. Now she understands!
Q: How do you respond to critics who say that the Miss America pageant sends the wrong message to young girls?
A: I’d ask: Is it better for young girls to watch reality TV shows like Honey Boo Boo and the Kardashians than to watch the Miss America Pageant and see smart, talented, and well-put-together women talk about how they want to be future leaders of America? Miss America gets a lot of flak, but the reality is that it is uplifting and aspirational, as opposed to some of the options on television today. I’ve never understood why it’s a negative to showcase a talented, smart woman who also happens to be attractive. The discipline learned from putting in time and effort as a child is a skill and a talent you carry with you for the rest of your life in trying to achieve goals. Pageants should be for young women able to make their own decisions about whether or not they want to take part in a program that advocates for young women and achievement.
Q: What was your most embarrassing moment being Miss America?
A: It happened the second day. A New York City reporter at my very first press conference rudely asked me if I’d ever had sex and whether or not there was anything about me that wasn’t “real.” She also quizzed me on current events to test whether I was “smart.” I realized she was trying to embarrass me, and it was a really mean thing to do to a twenty-two-year-old girl meeting the press for the first time. There’s something about winning Miss America that brings out the snark. Many years later, when I was a national news correspondent, I saw her at an event and decided to approach her and tell her how demoralizing her comments were—but how I’d made it to the national scene anyway. I felt vindicated that I decided to speak up for not only myself but women all across the nation who’ve been put down.
THANK YOU GRETCHEN, FOR SHARING YOUR HEART AND ABOUT WHY YOU WROTE GETTING REAL. You have inspired us all to get real, to work hard and to become all God has created us to be!
Gretchen Carlson is an award-winning journalist and host of FOX News Channel’s The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson. She previously co-hosted Fox & Friends for eight years and served as a CBS News correspondent and co-host of the CBS Saturday Early Show. She was the first classical violinist to be crowned Miss America in 1989 and serves on the board of the Miss America Organization. She is also a National Trustee for the March of Dimes. She is married to sports agent Casey Close, has two children, and resides in Connecticut.
GETTING REAL is a candid, funny memoir from the charismatic FOX News channel anchor and Miss America Pageant winner
Celebrity news anchorwoman Gretchen Carlson shares her inspiring story and offers important takeaways for women (and men) about what it means to strive for and find success in the real world. With warmth and wit, she takes readers from her Minnesota childhood, where she became a violin prodigy, through college at Stanford and her in-the-trenches years as a cub reporter on local television stations before becoming a national news reporter. She describes her rise to anchor of The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson on FOX News channel as a testament to personal strength and perseverance.
Carlson addresses the intense competitive effort of winning the Miss America Pageant, the challenges she’s faced as a woman in broadcast television, and how she manages to balance work and family as the wife of high-profile sports agent Casey Close and devoted mother to their two children. An unceasing advocate for respect and equality for women, Carlson writes openly about her own struggles with body image, pageant stereotypes, building her career, and having the courage to speak her mind. She encourages women to strive for their goals, never give up, and always believe in themselves.
In Getting Real, Carlson emerges as a living example of a woman not afraid to chase her dreams and embrace life fully.
ENDORSEMENT FOR GETTING REAL:
“In 1989, Gretchen Carlson was chosen to be Miss America—I was one of the judges who picked her! Since then, I have watched Gretchen grow as a journalist and as a woman, proving that beautiful women can be smart and that working women can be good moms. In Getting Real, Gretchen writes frankly and with humor about the challenges she’s met along the way. We can’t all be Miss America, but we can all learn from Gretchen how to confront whatever comes our way and come out winners.”
—Deborah Norville, anchor of “Inside Edition” and author of Thank You Power
“Gretchen’s Getting Real is a powerful tool for young women who desire to become everything God designed them to be. Poignantly and humbly, she shares her struggles on the long road to success. And she honors the God of all creation in the process. Brava!”
—Kathie Lee Gifford, co-host of “The Today Show” and author of Just When I Thought I’d Dropped My Last Egg
“Gretchen Carlson is a gifted news anchor who always gets the story right and who continues to make Minnesotans proud. In Getting Real, Gretchen takes us inside the competitive worlds of music, Miss America, and television news and shows us that with hard work—and resilience—dreams do come true.”
—Fran Tarkenton, Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback and founder of Tarkenton Companies
“Finding success in life comes after some failures and a lot of hard work. Watching Gretchen succeed inspires me and will inspire all women: she seized the day, made the most of her talents, and never, ever gave up.”
—Vanessa Williams, Singer, Actress, and New York Times Bestselling Author
“My spirit resonates with Gretchen Carlson’s single-eyed focus, steely determination, and all-out commitment to achieve her goals. Her standards of excellence and sacrificial discipline are exemplary. Getting Real has caused me to examine my own life in order to eliminate any casualness or carelessness as I seek to follow and serve Jesus Christ.”
—Anne Graham Lotz, founder of AnGeL Ministries and author of Wounded by God’s People
“Gretchen has such an amazing message, one that will inspire young women. One of courage, determination, faith, and guts. We all have a journey, and Gretchen has graciously given us her map to help others find theirs.”
—Kristin Chenoweth, Emmy and Tony award winning actress and singer
“Winston Churchill famously opined that success consists of going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm. Gretchen Carlson embodies the very nature of success by remaining steadfast to the vision that inspires her and to the God-breathed purpose that allows those dreams to take flight and affirms her true calling in times of failure. She is truly living her best life.”
—Bishop T. D. Jakes, CEO, TDJ Enterprises, and New York Times best-selling author
“Gretchen Carlson’s story is so inspiring. She is indeed what she aspires to be: an authentic role model for all women and girls. Not because of her musical talent, her Miss America crown, or her Fox News celebrity, but because she shares her failures and vulnerabilities as well as her successes, and, of course, her unwavering faith.”
—Marilyn Carlson Nelson, former Chairman and CEO of Carlson and current co-CEO of Carlson Holdings
“My Fox News colleague, Gretchen Carlson, has written a book and here’s what I like about it: clarity! Gretchen tells her story in a way that can help other people who are trying to do the right thing in life. Nice job!”
—Bill O’Reilly, host of “The O’Reilly Factor” and New York Times bestselling author
“I first met Gretchen Carlson when we were teenagers competing against each other in violin competitions, and over the years I’ve watched with admiration as she has applied the skills and determination that made her a music prodigy to help her achieve success in pretty much everything she has aspired to do. From Virtuoso to Miss America to Television Star…what a fascinating life!”
– Joshua Bell, Grammy Award-winning violinist and conductor
- Ch…ch…ch…CHANGES Are Coming in 2017 for TMI - December 27, 2016
- What New Thing Are You Ready to See God Do in Your Life in 2017? - December 26, 2016
- Heaviness and Newness - December 23, 2016
