Former Good Morning America host Joan Lunden, 75, is opening up about an alleged instance of sexual harassment early in her career—one she says came with professional retaliation. In her memoir released on Tuesday, Joan: Life Beyond the Script, Lunden recounts an unsettling encounter with a superior she identifies only as “Ted.” At 25, she had just joined ABC’s flagship station WABC when her boss invited her to what he framed as a “good opportunity” to socialize with the team at an overnight gathering on Fire Island. But when she arrived, Lunden says the scene looked less like a work function and more like an “overnight double date.” Only two others were there—a WCBS reporter and his girlfriend. She writes that Ted suggested they share a bedroom. Lunden instead slept on the couch, saying she felt “offended as a woman that a guy—my superior at work—thought he could get away with this!” When she confronted him, she says he brushed it off, saying they should “just enjoy ourselves.” Back at the office, Lunden claims he began killing her story ideas—cutting into her pay. After a “couple of months” of retaliation, she threatened legal action. That, she says, “got his attention.” He eventually apologized, though Lunden describes the confrontation as “incredibly uncomfortable and scary”—but necessary.
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