NEED TO KNOW
Joan Lunden still shares a close bond with her former Good Morning America co-host Charles Gibson
Lunden told PEOPLE that Gibson “became like a brother” to her and that she also keeps in touch with fellow GMA alum Spencer Christian, who led the program’s weather forecasts
Former anchors, reporters and crew members from her time on the show get together for a holiday party in New York City every year, she adds
Joan Lunden remains close friends with former Good Morning America co-host Charles Gibson.
On Thursday, June 18, Lunden, 75, opened up about the bond she still shares with her GMA colleagues ahead of a book signing at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena, Calif. Her 11th book, Joan: Life Beyond the Script, co-written with memoiristTamela Rich, was published in March.
Lunden, who co-hosted the ABC staple from 1980 to 1997, was joined each morning by Gibson, 83, when he started hosting in 1987. Her latest book follows her through that evolving journalism career both on and off the air, while juggling her personal life and her cancer journey in 2014.
“He became like a brother to me,” Lunden tells PEOPLE of her friendship with Gibson.
Lunden calls her adventurous GMA segments her “ticket to adventure,” often traveling to cover major historical events, including several presidential inaugurations, the 1995 Super Bowl and more with Gibson by her side. “A show like Good Morning America, Charlie used to say, ‘This is the best seat from which to view the world,'” Lunden recalls.
Gibson isn’t the only former colleague that Lunden keeps up with. She also remains in touch with former GMA weather forecaster Spencer Christian, having recently met him for dinner in San Francisco.
“We all keep in touch with each other,” Lunden says. “It’s interesting that the people who worked on that program, not just the stars of the program, [but also] the researchers, the people who ran teleprompter, the people who were down in the bowels of ABC, who were in the editing rooms, those people, and it was a big staff, maybe 150 people to make that show happen…. that group of people who did that show from the late 1970s when it went on the air through the 1980s into the late 90s, we all still get together every year, second week of December.”
Joan Lunden and Charles Gibson
Credit: Joan Lunden/Facebook
Lunden added that the group meets in the same New York City location each year to catch up and celebrate during the holiday season, as “everyone shows up every year, year after year.”
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“[They] haven’t changed a bit,” Lunden adds. “But nobody [from that period] is working there anymore. Everybody’s gone on to other jobs, some are retired, but we all make sure that we get to that holiday party with that staff that traveled the world together.”
“They didn’t all travel with us, but everybody got up at 2 and 3 and 4 [a.m.], so that we could be on the air at 7 a.m. for America,” Lunden says of the importance of the show’s crew. “And there was just a bond in that we were all on that same kind of miserable, early morning boat.”
Joan: Life Beyond the Script is available now wherever books are sold.
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