Newswoman Joan Lunden glad she could prove that women can be accomplished at work while having children

Joan Lunden was at Channel 7 Eyewitness News’ offices in New York getting ready for the 6 o’clock show, when her agent called: ABC was offering her the job as co-host of “Good Morning America.” Twenty minutes later, her phone rang again, this time her gynecologist – to congratulate her on being pregnant with her first child.

“I honestly never thought about, ‘aw man, that would’ve been so great, bad timing.’ I just said, ‘all right, I gotta figure out how I’m gonna do this one,’” recalled Lunden in a discussion with past National Press Club president Emily Wilkins at a Headliners Book Event on March 19, 2026.

In her 11th book -- the first book about her life and career -- “Joan: Life Beyond the Script,” Lunden gives readers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into such moments in her life that have defined and redefined her, and inspired generations of working women.

Lunden was expected to give birth to her firstborn in July and begin work in August of 1979. At a time when the FCC prohibited saying the word “breastfeeding” on television, Lunden negotiated a deal with ABC to work and travel, with her 7-week-old in tow.

She remembered waking up every workday at 3:30 in the morning, changing the baby’s diapers, getting into the company car, and breastfeeding on the way to the office while reviewing her 80-page script. At work, the baby had a dressing room next to Lunden’s.

Lunden recalled one morning when Barbara Walters came into the office, saw baby Jamie in the dressing room and exclaimed, “I don't even believe what I'm looking at.” An incredulous Walters told Lunden that there was no way the network would have ever allowed her to bring a baby to work.

In the book, Lunden details a number of incidents that she thinks “tended to, after a while, I don’t know if normalize it is the right word but, you know, just kind of clear the runway for women in the future.”

One morning during an interview with a senator about then-President Ronald Reagan’s trickle-down economic theory, “all of a sudden it was obviously time for baby Jamie to feed because I experienced inflation and trickle down, up close and personal,” she said. When her producers and colleagues saw Lunden roll with situations like that and get right back on the job, industry acceptance grew of a woman’s ability to successfully juggle the responsibilities of motherhood and career.

Lunden thinks that American women viewers also appreciated her authenticity. “They liked the idea that they saw me showing up being prepared, doing my interviews and they knew also I was dealing with spit-up and dirty diapers,” she said.

When she was pregnant on the air, “[W]omen would write and say, thank you for showing my boss (or my husband) that as your belly gets bigger, your brain does not get smaller – that you can actually still do your job,” Lunden added.

Yet, not all network executives were always on board, particularly when Lunden’s pregnancy became visible on television. One executive called a GMA producer demanding her immediate removal, saying “[N]obody wants to see a pregnant woman walking down the street, let alone on the television in the morning when they’re having breakfast.”

A group of network executives told Lunden’s “GMA” co-host Charlie Gibson, that in his first appearance with her on the show, he needed to establish himself as the “alpha-male” with Lunden and the audience. Gibson responded that he didn’t think that was what the American audience wanted, then walked into Lunden’s office and said, “[L]et’s show America that a man and a woman can do a job on television as equals.” To which Lunden replied, “[Y]ou got a deal buddy.” That was indeed what America wanted because GMA’s ratings went through the roof, Lunden noted.

In her memoir, Lunden also opens up for the first time, about experiencing sexual harassment as an aspiring female journalist in a male-dominated industry.

While at Eyewitness News, her mentor and superior invited Lunden to what he said was a big staff party on Fire Island. Upon arrival, she realized that the only others in attendance were a couple. Later that evening, the man asked her to go to bed with him. Stranded on the island without transportation, Lunden slept on the sofa and upon daybreak found her way back to the ferry.

The same man began killing all of her stories, and told everyone in the newsroom that she went to Fire Island with him. One day, Lunden confronted him, saying she had gotten an attorney, and was going to sue him and WABC for sexual harassment unless he stopped killing her stories and left her alone.

“Now if looks could kill, I would have been killed many times after that, but he did at least stop that. I call him Ted in the book. That’s not his real name cause he’s still in the industry. And I hope he reads the book,” Lunden said. What’s not in the book, Lunden admitted, is that she had in fact called the man’s bluff – she never had an attorney.

In Lunden’s almost two decades of co-hosting “GMA,” she reported from 28 countries, and covered five U.S. presidents, three royal weddings, and five Olympics. Yet while “Joan: Life Beyond the Script” reflects on that extraordinary time of her life, Lunden also wanted to tell the story of life after “GMA” in her memoir.

Lunden said that the words “Beyond the Script,” refer to “a script that you’ve lived by and that everybody expects of you.” After “GMA,” people thought she would move on to the “Today Show” or another program, but she didn’t lean into those opportunities.

Instead, Lunden became an outspoken public health advocate, testifying on Capitol Hill for breast cancer awareness and senior health. On her show “Behind Closed Doors,” she jumped with U.S. Army parachute team Golden Knights, deployed with the Navy SEALs, and performed as a ballet show girl on a Las Vegas stage. She’s been a visiting professor at Lehigh University, written more books, and had more children (for a total of seven).

“I don’t think I could have really written [the book] until now, because only at this point can I look at the total arc of my life and career, and realize I didn’t have to top [‘GMA’], I didn’t have to do the same thing – and the last 25 years of my life have had some extraordinary opportunities to really make a difference,” Lunden said.

The journalist declared that she’s not retiring any time soon. Even with the book, Lunden characteristically continues to blaze trails in a very public way.

In closing, Lunden said excitedly that at the end of each chapter of “Joan: Life Beyond the Script,” readers can scan a QR code that will open up to a video story.

“I love breaking barriers and doing new things. So this way I can kind of show you my life, as well as tell you, in a literary sense,” she said.