What Happened To Joan Lunden After Her Good Morning America Exit?

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Joan Lunden began her broadcast journalism career in Sacramento, California, where she initially started as a trainee with local station KCRA-TV. Her talent in front of the camera was evident; within a year, she become co-anchor of the channel's noon news broadcast. Bigger opportunities beckoned, and she headed to New York City for an anchor job at local ABC affiliate WABC, eventually becoming a weekend anchor. Soon after, she was tapped by "Good Morning America" as consumer reporter in 1976, making regular appearances on the show. By 1978, she began filling in for the regular hosts when they were away, which ultimately led to a permanent spot alongside co-anchor David Hartman and later Charles Gibson. However, in 1997, amid slumping ratings, Lunden announced that she was exiting the show, becoming one of many news anchors who disappeared from "Good Morning America."

"I was only 30 years old!" Lunden wrote via Facebook, looking back at her first day on the job with Hartman in August 1980. "And I had an 8-week-old baby in my arms as I entered the studio," she recalled. Before her exit, Lunden's smiling face was a constant, greeting groggy "Good Morning America" viewers as they began each day. Despite no longer having that morning-show platform, she's remained popular with viewers, maintaining a presence in the media since then. Read on to find out what happened to Joan Lunden after her "Good Morning America" exit.

At the time of Joan Lunden's exit from "Good Morning America," she'd been hosting and executive producing a series of specials for ABC, "Behind Closed Doors," taking viewers into scenarios rarely explored on television. When she left "GMA," the continued on another network, shifting to A&E. Episodes ran the gamut, ranging from going inside the Centers for Disease Control to exploring the inner workings of a cruise ship, as well as joining the U.S. Army's Golden Knights Parachute Team and even temporarily becoming a prison inmate.

Appearing on CNN's "Larry King Live," Lunden explained why the series had caught on with viewers. "What I do is I try to let the audience vicariously experience a slice of life, but an amazing slice of life that they otherwise will never get to experience unless they happen to join the Marines or unless they happen to become a Golden Knight," she said. 

Undertaking some of those missions for "Behind Closed Doors" proved to be both hazardous and injurious. "I've gotten a lot of bumps and bruises," she said, revealing that the g-force of flying in an F-16 fighter jet left her with a herniated disk in her neck, an injury she exacerbated when training with a professional wrestler. "I did this whole routine with Medusa, a female wrestler and I got body slammed a few times and I really — I ended up having spinal surgery," she added.

Joan Lunden and then-husband Michael A. Krauss welcomed their first child, daughter Jamie, in 1980, shortly before becoming co-anchor of "Good Morning America." The couple had two more kids — Lindsay and Sarah — before divorcing in 1992. Lunden married her second husband, Jeff Konigsberg, in 2000. Three years later, Konigsberg and Lunden — then in her early 50s — became parents of twins, Max and Kate. Then, in 2005, they welcomed a second set of twins, Kimberly and Jack. Both were born via surrogacy. 

Lunden and Konisberg used the same surrogate, Deborah Bolig, for both pregnancies, and she'd become part of their family. "She's a woman in our lives we greatly respect, she helped us have Kate and Max and Kim and Jack," Lunden told The New York Times, revealing she had a metaphor ready when her younger four children were old enough to learn about the circumstances behind their births. "It's almost like we can't cook the cupcakes in our oven because the oven is broken," she said. "We're going to use the neighbor's oven."

The TV host also explained her decision to embark on a second wave of motherhood at age 52. "I wasn't ready to put my feet up and retire. I still wanted that life where you're running around chasing kids on bikes and riding bikes with them," Lunden said. For Lunden, balancing a thriving career with being the mother of seven has been hectic — but in a positive way. "It's energizing to me," she told Closer Weekly. "I'm a person who just has always taken on life at full speed. So, I think that I was wise in my choice."

For years, Joan Lunden vacationed with her husband in Naples, Maine. After one of those relaxing getaways, Lunden realized it was there that she felt her happiest and healthiest while communing with nature. "So, I needed to figure out how I can make this available to other people," she reflected in an interview with the Portland Press Herald. 

In 2005, she introduced her love of that area to fans by founding Camp Reveille, a week-long summer camp for women. As Lunden explained, offering women the opportunity the chance to attend a summer camp — something they hadn't experienced since childhood — was an experience like no other. "You know, the old saying, youth is wasted on the young," Lunden explained. "Well, it would be so nice if we could go back to camp again when we were adults. And in this case you can." As Camp Reveille continued to welcome campers year after year, Lunden revealed that she'd come to realize the experience yielded a benefit she hadn't expected. "And I think the magic of coming to Reveille, which I probably only realized after I opened it, is the emotional strength when you get a group of 150 women together sharing their stories, sharing their life experiences, sharing their struggles they've gone through and how they survived them," she said.

As those campers discovered, Lunden was no dilettante but a hands-on host who interacted with everyone who attended. "She's leading fitness classes. She's doing Zumba with everyone, she is there at the fire," Lunden's executive assistant, Elaine Capillo, told the Sun Journal.

It's no question that, as the mother of seven children (including two sets of twins) with a thriving career, Joan Lunden has a lot on her plate. Her responsibilities multiplied when her mother was diagnosed with dementia and her brother grew ill due to complications from type 2 diabetes. "As part of what has become known as the sandwich generation, I found myself caring for my children–ranging in age from young babies to teens and young adults–at the same time I was caring for my aging mom and brother, all while working full time," Lunden recalled in an interview with HR Executive. When her brother died at the age of 57, she found herself in the unenviable position of planning a funeral while trying to find a care home for her mother. "I got thrown into having to find senior living care and I didn't know anything about it," she told People.

She soon came to realize it was something of a role reversal in that the child is now in charge of a parent. "And now you get to the point where you have to help them know what to wear, where to live. It is just an emotionally bewildering time, I think for everyone," she added. That experience led her to embrace a new role as an advocate for caregivers such as herself. She also discovered A Place for Mom, a nationwide referral service for assisted living facilities, and became the organization's spokesperson in 2012.

Joan Lunden returned to "Good Morning America" in 2014, but she did not have happy news to share. "I heard those words that every woman fears and never wants to hear: 'You have breast cancer,'" Lunden said (via ABC News), revealing her cancer was "aggressive" enough to warrant a combination of chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. Some breast cancer survivors feel that sharing their story can help demystify the disease, and Lunden felt similarly.

Indeed, Lunden is one of many celebs who have been bravely honest about their breast cancer. She graced the cover of People just a few months after the announcement with a bald head, a side effect of treatment. In the accompanying interview, Lunden explained she decided to be photographed without the wig she'd taken to wearing so that other women facing the same situation could gain some solace from the fact that they're not alone. "I'm almost reluctant to say it because it sounds superficial," she said. "But when you lose your hair, it just affects the way that you look at yourself in the mirror. You feel less feminine, pretty or desirable, and it's not an easy thing to go through."

A year after sharing her diagnosis, Lunden announced that she was now cancer-free. During a 2015 appearance on NBC's "Today," Lunden explained that her treatment had been successful, and her hair was growing back — though, at the time, she described it as still being in "the Chia pet stage." In the fall of 2017, she made a return appearance on "Today" to confirm that a recent examination concluded she was still cancer-free three years after receiving her diagnosis.

Joan Lunden's breast cancer diagnosis in 2014 was certainly not welcome news, but it did pave the way for a new role in a network television morning show — and it wasn't "Good Morning America." In fact, she was hired by the chief competitor of "GMA," NBC's "Today Show," serving as a special correspondent throughout the month of October 2014. That particular month was not randomly chosen; it was National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

At the time she served as a special correspondent for "Today," Lunden was also deeply entrenched in her own cancer treatment, an experience she shared with the show's viewers. In December 2014, Lunden celebrated the end of her chemotherapy, and she wrote about it for Today.com. As she explained, after a brief respite, she would then begin undergoing radiation treatments in January 2015, which would be extended to six solid weeks, five days per week. 

For Lunden, the consummate caregiver, one of the biggest lessons she learned was how to relinquish that instinct and let others take care of her. She admitted to feeling guilty, as if she was burdening her loved ones, and she found that to be a particularly strange experience. "There's uneasiness about it," she wrote. "I feel grateful and appreciative, of course, that they're there with me but it's mixed with a sense of reluctance."

Joan Lunden has received numerous awards and accolades over the course of her decades-long career in journalism, ranging from a Daytime Emmy award in 2008 to the Distinguished Civilian Service Award in 2001. She also won the Gracie Allen Awards in 2011 for outstanding talk show. In 2016, though, Lunden received an award that few would have seen coming: the Warrior Award, presented by the WWE.

While Lunden's name isn't exactly synonymous with professional wrestling, Lunden was presented with the second annual Warrior Award by Dana Warrior, widow of late WWE fan favorite The Ultimate Warrior. "WWE has welcomed me into their family, offering me warmth and support, as have so many of the WWE fans from around the world," said Lunden in a statement to WWE. "It is a privilege to receive this honor."

Lunden was presented with the award during the 2016 WWE Hall of Fame Induction ceremony. In her acceptance speech, she opened up about how her battle with cancer had awakened her own inner warrior. "A real fighter who could take a hit, and get back up and persevere," she said, receiving thunderous applause from the audience. She concluded her speech by declaring, "Just as The Ultimate Warrior always promised you a good fight in the ring, I promise you that I will keep fighting the good fight to help other women outside of the ring."

Back in 2009, Joan Lunden signed a three-year deal to host "Health Corner," a series airing on the Lifetime cable channel that was sponsored by the Walgreens pharmacy chain. With a wide-ranging purview, "Health Corner" featured wellness-related interviews with celebrities (including Hollywood star Jamie Lee Curtis and news anchor Bob Woodruff), healthy cooking segments, reports on new medical breakthroughs, and more. "My goal is to bring even more focus and attention to health concerns women share, whether they're in college, young moms, sandwich generation, or aging adults," Lunden said in a press release.

Years later, her experience as a breast cancer survivor gave her a new perspective on health, which is evident in another project that focuses on health and wellness. The series "Second Opinion with Joan Lunden" took her to PBS, with a mission to educate viewers on how to empower themselves about taking control over their own health. She took over as host in 2021 after Dr. Peter Salgo stepped down from the original series, which first aired back in 2004. For Lunden, whose father was a cancer surgeon, "Second Opinion" offered her a chance to continue his life's work in a whole new way. "While I did not become a doctor, as a broadcaster and health advocate, I have had a lifetime opportunity to educate and empower others to better control their health and longevity," she said in a statement to WXXI News.

Prior to her exit from "Good Morning America," Joan Lunden wrote what would become the first of many books: "Good Morning, I'm Joan Lunden," which arrived shortly after she'd begun her tenure on "GMA." Her other poopular book, "Joan Lunden's Healthy Living," was published in early 1997, shortly before she exited the show.

After that, Lunden became a prolific author. Subsequent books included "Joan Lunden's A Bend in the Road Is Not the End of the Road," "Growing Up Healthy," and her first cookbook, "Joan Lunden's Healthy Cooking." She opened up in the autobiographical "Wake-up Calls," and got particularly candid about her experience as a breast cancer survivor in "Had I Known." Then, in 2020, she shared her tips to defy the passage of time in "Why Did I Come Into This Room?: A Candid Conversation About Aging."

Interestingly, the idea for the latter book came to Lunden after an appearance on the "Today" show — which she discussed, aptly enough, while appearing on "Today." As she explained, she was interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter about becoming a special correspondent for "Today" and was taken aback when the interviewer asked her what it felt like to return to morning television as a senior citizen. "That was his first question!" Lunden exclaimed. "It just stopped me in my tracks, but it started me thinking about, is that how I'm perceived now, because of my age?"

Not coincidentally, the same year that Joan Lunden wrote about aging in "Why Did I Come Into This Room," she celebrated her 70th birthday. That may have seemed surprising to those who had watched her life's journey unfold in public, but it was even more surprising to Lunden herself. "How the hell did that happen?" Lunden joked about becoming a septuagenarian in an interview with People.

While there are certainly pros and cons to entering one's twilight years, Lunden also came to see that "there's a silver lining of aging — letting go of mistakes and regrets, gaining this appreciation of life." And while Lunden acknowledged that coming to a place in life where there are more years in the past than there are in the future can certainly bring about challenges and struggles, she also reminded everyone to consider the alternative. "Not everybody gets to continue aging," she added, "so let it be joyful."

By 2022, Joan Lunden's exit from "Good Morning America" was ancient history, a piece of television trivia that had taken place a quarter of a century earlier. It was then, however, that Lunden told the truth about what had actually gone on behind the scenes. She revealed that the official explanation for her exit — wanting to spend more time with her children — wasn't entirely true. In fact, she was pushed out because she was then in her late 40s, which network executives considered to be too old. "The words are, 'We've decided to make a change on the show,' and so they found a 30-year-old version of me," Lunden said while appearing on "Oprah: Where Are They Now?"

"I didn't talk about it for a long, long time," she told Yahoo! Life while confirming, finally, that she was one of seven stars who were fired from "Good Morning America." She continued, "I mean, I was 47 years old. That's not old. They don't push men out because they're 47." She also explained why she'd waited so many years to reveal the truth: "I believe in going out with class ... as opposed to getting angry, like, what's the point?"

Since then, ABC television executives have seemingly abandoned that sexist, ageist mindset — or, at least, that's the conclusion that can be drawn from the fact that longtime anchor Robin Roberts — the very anchor involved in not one but two of the biggest scandals to rock "Good Morning America" — still hosts daytime television. As of 2025, Roberts notably remains a favorite with viewers while in her mid-60s.