Rene Syler, 49 of Westchester, New York, co-anchored “The Early Show” on CBS in 2002. But after losing her job in 2006, Syler was faced with a number of health setbacks and a shrinking job market for “women of a certain age,” she said. Now the mom of two teens runs a successful parenting blog called Good Enough Mother, based on a book she wrote, and makes personal and television appearances addressing the misconception that being a good mother means being perfect. She spoke with Huff/Post50 associate editor Anthonia Akitunde. Here is her story in her own words:
I was a local anchor for about 12 years at various stations across the country. After two interviews in New York, the then-president of CBS News, Andrew Heyward, called and offered me a job as “The Early Show” anchor. My husband and I had just built our dream house in the Dallas/Forth Worth area of Texas and were planning on staying a long time, but I moved to New York four months after we moved into the house. He and the kids stayed behind while I commuted to and from New York — going home on weekends only — from October 2002 until they moved up the summer of 2003.
I had a great job at CBS: I had the opportunity to meet these really famous people for three minutes at a time and I had a paycheck attached to it. But I also had people looking over my shoulder, telling me what to do, making sure [I was] following the procedure … If you didn’t do something right you heard about it. There was a lot of pressure if the ratings weren’t there.
The president who had hired me was gone and the new guy made no bones about his distaste for the show’s four-anchor format. So when he came in, he went: “You.” I guess I knew things were going to change on some level, but I think whenever it happens, no matter who you are, there’s a degree of shock that goes along with it.
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