Joan Lunden Biography
Joan Lunden is a television host, author, and journalist from the United States. Lunden co-hosted ABC’s Good Morning America from 1980 to 1997 and is the author of eight books. She has appeared on the Biography show as well as the Biography Channel. Other ABC anchors include Forrest Sawyer, Jim Avila, Joan Lunden, Cecily Tynan, Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, Michael Strahan, Lara Spencer, Ginger Zee, David Muir, Amy Robach, Kendis Gibson, Diane Macedo, Janai Norman, Rob Nelson, Paula Faris, and Reena Ninan.
Joan Lunden Age
Lunden is 71 years old as of 2021. She was born on 19 September 1950 in Fair Oaks, California, United States.
Joan Lunden Education
Lunden graduated from California State University, Sacramento with a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts. She later studied Spanish and anthropology at the former Universidad de Las Americas campus in Mexico City. She was a visiting professor at Montclair State College in New Jersey, where she taught a broadcast journalism course.
Joan Lunden Height
Lunden stands at an average height of 5 feet 6 inches (1.62m).
Joan Lunden Family
Lunden was born as the daughter of Gladyce Lorraine (née Somervill) and Dr. Erle Murray Blunden, who is a physician.
Joan Lunden Husband
Lunden was married to Michael A. Krauss from 1978 until 1992 when they divorced. Jamie Beryl Krauss, born July 4, 1980, Lindsay Leigh Krauss, and Sarah Emily Krauss is the couple’s three daughters. When Lunden married Krauss, she converted to Judaism. On April 18, 2000, she married Jeff Konigsberg, the owner of Camp Takajo. They have two sets of twins, Jack and Kim, born in 2005, and Kate and Max, born in 2003 with the assistance of a surrogate mother. Lunden has become a surrogacy advocate.
Joan Lunden Career
Her first job as a news anchor was at KCRA-TV. She began her broadcasting career in Sacramento, California, where she co-anchored the daily noon television news program for Channel 3 (KCRA) and radio. She was the producer of the noon newscast and the host of KCRA’s television specials.
Behind Closed Doors (originally aired on ABC as occasional primetime specials; 1996–2001), an on-location, undercover reporter program, was hosted by Lunden on the A&E cable network. She also frequently appeared as a guest host on A&E’s Biography.
Her most recent television appearances include hosting DirectTV’s Hometown Heroes and the Emmy-nominated special America’s Invisible Children. Lunden is the host of the Lifetime series Health Corner, which is sponsored by Walgreens. She is currently the spokesperson for A Place for Mom, a national referral service for senior care. She is also a public speaker who advocates for breast cancer awareness.
Joan Lunden Net Worth
Lunden has an estimated net worth of $25 Million.
Joan Lunden Good Morning America
Lunden joined New York’s WABC-TV Eyewitness News in 1975, and her name was changed to avoid being referred to as “Blunder.” A year later, she was promoted to co-anchor of the weekend newscasts. Lunden joined GMA as a feature news/consumer reporter in the fall of 1976 and later became a fill-in co-host when former co-host Sandy Hill left to work on ABC’s coverage of the 1976 Winter Olympics.
Her popularity led to her quick promotion to co-host with the program’s original host, David Hartman, in 1980. Later in her career, she would spend the majority of her time hosting alongside ABC’s Charlie Gibson. She covered four presidents, five Olympic Games, and two royal weddings while reporting from 26 countries.
From the 1970s to the 1990s, her popularity on the GMA program allowed her to interview U.S. Presidents and First Ladies Gerald and Betty Ford, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, George and Barbara Bush, Bill, and Hillary Clinton, and Texas Governor George W. Bush and Laura Bush prior to his election as president in 2000.
Lunden traveled the world as a co-host of GMA, covering historic events such as the 50th anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe) in 1995, the 50th anniversary of D-Day, the 1984 and 1988 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo and Calgary, respectively, and the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales.
She covered three presidents’ administrations and inaugurations: Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan. During Prince Charles’ 1983 visit to the United States, she was one of only three American journalists to interview him.
In her role as host, Lunden was known for her willingness to take risks. During the program’s highly rated trip to New Zealand, she climbed and rappelled Alaska’s famed Mendenhall Glacier, bungee-jumped off a 143-foot bridge, and paraglided off a 2,000-foot mountain. In 1994, she navigated the whitewater rapids of a Georgia river for a GMA show. Lunden retired from GMA after 17 years as a co-host on September 5, 1997.