Star Jones
 | The article's lead section may need to be rewritten. |
Star Jones Reynolds | |
|---|---|
| File:StarJonesReynoldsTheView.jpg Star Jones Reynolds | |
| Born | March 24, 1962 |
| Occupation(s) | Lawyer, television personality |
Star Jones Reynolds (born Starlet Marie Jones March 24, 1962) is an American lawyer and television personality, best known for her stint as a co-host of the popular ABC weekday morning talk show The View.
Early life, education and legal career
Born in Badin, North Carolina, Jones graduated from Notre Dame High School (Lawrenceville). She earned a B.A. degree in The Administration of Justice at American University and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Houston Law Center.
Jones worked as an assistant district attorney in New York for six years and became Senior Assistant District Attorney at the age of 29. Her felony conviction rate of 31 out of 33 cases earned her top honors and acknowledgement in the Law Enforcement Community.[1]
Star Jones Reynolds is also a prominent member of Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) Sorority, Inc.
Television career
Jones was recruited by Court TV in 1991 as a commentator for the William Kennedy Smith rape trial, and spent several years as a legal correspondent for NBC's The Today Show and NBC Nightly News.
She left NBC in 1994 to host her own court show Jones & Jury. Although the show was canceled after one year, Jones quickly was signed up as chief legal analyst on Inside Edition, where she was assigned to lead the coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder trial and was the only reporter to interview Simpson during his civil trial.
The View
In 1997 she joined The View as a co-host, a role that increased her public exposure significantly.
From September 2004 to September 2005, Jones Reynolds was a red-carpet host for the E! television network, conducting interviews at awards shows. Jones and E! declined to renew her contract after one year. [2]
On June 27, 2006, Jones Reynolds officially reported that she would be leaving The View after nine seasons as co-host. She told People Magazine that the decision to leave was not her own. "What you don't know is that my contract was not renewed for the 10th season... I feel like I was fired." She found out her contract would not be renewed just days before O'Donnell's addition to the show was announced.
The following day, Barbara Walters, claiming she had been "blindsided" [3] announced that effective immediately Jones Reynolds no longer would appear on The View, except for segments that had already been pre-taped (which proved to be minimal. When the series went into summer reruns, only programs in which she had been absent from the panel were rebroadcast). Jones Reynolds was removed from the opening credits, leaving only Walters, Joy Behar, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. In addition to being removed from the credits, Jones Reynolds was immediately removed from the ABC.com website. After June 27, her only appearance on "The View" was in a repeat program on July 4, 2006.
Shortly after, Jones joined Larry King on his talk show to defend her position and respond to questions about why ABC had refused to renew her contract. The network claimed that not only did Jones's excessive reports about her wedding plans alienate viewers, though it resulted in some of the highest View ratings, but her acceptance of clothing and merchandise for the event, in exchange for mentions on The View, was in violation of network policy. When questioned about these issues by King, Jones adamantly stated that every mention of her wedding and those connected to it on The View was specifically approved and negotiated by the network themselves, clearly not in violation of any policy. She also reminded viewers that the ratings during that time were the highest ratings The View had in the nine years she was a co-host. [4].
Recent
Media reports on March 7, 2007 stated that Star Jones will return to Court TV as the new Executive Editor of their Daytime Programming and will host a daily daytime live talk show based on the law and pop culture. On March 8th's airing of The View, Rosie, Joy, and Elisabeth wished Star Jones congratulations and Rosie said "She looks beautiful." Followed up with an old joke between Joy and Star, "Look (referring to a picture on the screen) at Star. She finally became a skinny bitch like we always talked about!"
In July of 2006, Jones Reynolds hosted a week of the HGTV program, House Hunters, in New York City. Her appearance on the program "scored the largest household ratings in the cable channel's history." [5] In December of 2006 Reynolds executive produced the Star Jones Reynolds Report on cable network channel, TV One.
On April 2, 2007 she sat in as host of Larry King Live, interviewing Beyoncé Knowles while Larry was on vacation.
Authorship
Jones has written two books. The first, You Have to Stand for Something, or You'll Fall for Anything, is a collection of autobiographical essays published in 1998. In January of 2006, Jones published her second book, Shine: A Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Journey to Finding Love, detailing changes she made to re-shape her life, including her marriage and dramatic weight loss.
Personal life and public image
Star Jones married banker Al Reynolds on November 13, 2004. The wedding was held at Saint Bartholomew's Church in New York City in front of 500 guests, and featured three matrons of honor, 12 bridesmaids, two junior bridesmaids, three best men, 12 groomsmen, three junior groomsmen, six footmen, four ring bearers, and four flower girls. More than 30 corporate "sponsors" donated wedding attire and merchandise for the event, in exchange for mentions in the media and on Jones Reynolds' website. [6] WE: Women's Entertainment named Jones Reynolds the top bridezilla of 2004.
Controversy
In June 2003, Jones was sued by a landscaping company, which alleged she had agreed to ensure that the firm would receive credit for their work on a rooftop garden for her Upper East Side penthouse duplex in a quid pro quo exchange. The work was done in advance of an article about her home in the October 2003 issue of Architectural Digest. The Smoking Gun website published a copy of a letter she signed which agreed to the deal. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed in Jones' favor.[7]
Jones was named to PETA's "Worst Dressed" List four years in a row. [8] An anti-fur ad from PETA featured drag queen Flotilla DeBarge dressed as Jones in a spoof. Jones threatened to sue PETA and DeBarge as a result of the ad. [9]
Rosie O'Donnell, who was hired to replace Meredith Vieira on The View, has criticized Jones Reynolds for not publicly admitting to having gastric bypass surgery.
Joy Behar also made a small joke after guest co-host, Kathy Lee Gifford asked "Where's Star?" Joy replied, "No one knows because she got so skinny she disappeared."
Star Jones also topped the Most Annoying Celebrity list in 2006 according to amiannoying.com.[10]
She is set to appear in upcoming episodes of Law and Order.[citation needed]