Star Jones
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Star Jones | |
|---|---|
| Born | Starlet Marie Jones March 24, 1962 |
| Occupation | Television personality, lawyer |
| Spouse(s) | Al Reynolds (2004-2008) |
| Official website | |
Star Jones (born March 24, 1962) is an American lawyer and television personality, best known for her role as a co-host of the ABC weekday morning talk show The View.
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[edit] Early life, education, and legal career
Born Starlet Marie Jones in Badin, North Carolina, Star moved to New Jersey as a small child where she graduated from Notre Dame High School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.[1] She earned a B.A. degree in The Administration of Justice at American University and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Houston Law Center. She is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
[edit] Television career
Jones was recruited by Court TV in 1991 as a commentator for the William Kennedy Smith rape trial, and spent several years as a legal correspondent for NBC's Today and NBC Nightly News.
She left NBC in 1994 to host her own court show Jones & Jury. Although the show was canceled after one year, Jones quickly was signed up as chief legal analyst on Inside Edition, where she was assigned to lead the coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder trial and was the only reporter to interview Simpson during his civil trial.
[edit] The View
In 1997, Jones joined The View as a co-host, a role that increased her public exposure significantly. She was The View's first African-American co-host.
On June 27, 2006, Jones officially reported that she would be leaving The View after nine seasons as co-host. She told People Magazine that the decision to leave was not her own. "What you don't know is that my contract was not renewed for the 10th season ... . I feel like I was fired." She found out her contract would not be renewed just days before Rosie O'Donnell's addition to the show was announced.[2]
The following day, Barbara Walters, claiming she had been "blindsided"[3] announced that effective immediately Jones Reynolds no longer would appear on The View, except for segments that had already been pre-taped—which proved to be minimal. When the series went into summer reruns, only programs in which she had been absent from the panel were rebroadcast. Jones was removed from the opening credits, leaving only Walters, Joy Behar, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. In addition to being removed from the credits, Jones was immediately removed from the ABC.com website. After June 27, her only appearances on The View were on the Friday June 30, 2006 episode, which was taped prior to her departure, and then replayed on Tuesday July 4, 2006.
Shortly after, Jones joined Larry King on his talk show to defend her position and respond to questions about why ABC had refused to renew her contract. The network claimed that not only did Jones's excessive reports about her wedding plans alienate viewers, but her acceptance of clothing and merchandise for the event, in exchange for mentions on The View, was in violation of network policy. When questioned about these issues by King, Jones adamantly stated that every mention of her wedding and those connected to it on The View was specifically approved and negotiated by the network themselves, clearly not in violation of any policy. She also reminded viewers that the ratings during that time were the highest ratings The View had in the nine years she was a co-host.[4]
[edit] Star Jones on truTV
Media reports on March 7, 2007 stated that Star Jones would return to truTV (formerly Court TV) as the new Executive Editor of their Daytime Programming and would host a live weekday talk show based on the law and pop culture. It premiered on August 20.
On January 31, 2008, it was announced that Jones and truTV has mutually decided to end their relationship as the network made changes in their programming selection. The final episode of The Star Jones program aired on February 1, 2008. "[Jones'] show averaged 186,000 viewers and, by its final telecast, was down in the neighborhood of 85,000." (Washington Post, Feb. 2008) She will remain a legal expert contributor to "in session" trial coverage. She was making $8 million a year from Court TV.[5]
[edit] Other appearances
From September 2004 to September 2005, Jones was a red-carpet host for the E! television network, conducti