Accomplished TV host delivers Buchheit lecture
USC alumna Leeza Gibbons is proud to be a “sweet Carolina girl.”
The former host of “Entertainment Tonight” and “Leeza” learned many lessons from being a student at USC and growing up in Irmo, she said. A graduate of the USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications and a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority, Gibbons shared her life lessons Monday as this year’s speaker for the Buchheit Family Lecture.
“[Television] really has been an extraordinary opportunity, and I learned a lot about being from the South. I learned that it really was the ultimate not-so-secret weapon,” she said.
She currently hosts the TV news magazine show “America Now” and weekly TV news show “My Generation” on PBS. She has created several nonprofits, including Leeza’s Place, that provide support to patients and caregivers affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
Gibbons said her career in broadcast journalism quickly taught her that life was about pivot points she could use to further her career. She advised audience members to adjust their “WOW” factor, or “window on the world.”
“For me, I always had the choice just to put on another pair of glasses and just to see it through another lens,” Gibbons said.
Her earlier years working for “Entertainment Tonight” were one of the first times she needed to look at her life through a different lens, as she was initially frustrated by playing second fiddle to Mary Hart. When she took another look, she said she learned that she needed to stop looking for balance in her life and take risks instead.
“I can see now that I was trying to balance, and that’s when I learned that didn’t work. …I was up so high on that balance beam that I was afraid to look down,” Gibbons said. “There is no middle of the seesaw in my opinion. So now, instead of trying to balance my time, I look at investing my time.”
One risk that Gibbons took involved helping Paramount build its brand while working hard to build a brand of her own. She began doing transactional work for Sheer Cover makeup during a time when celebrities were not selling products.
She began to become comfortable with the idea of risk-taking, but it eventually resulted in having to face a lawsuit because of discrepancies over her contract.
“It was a difficult series of appearances in the day, but I fought for what I thought was right. I fought to be heard,” Gibbons said. “I learned through that that it was important to fight for what you believe in and that it is important to read the fine print in your contract.”
Gibbons advised the audience to “keep dancing, even if you can’t hear the music.” She said she learned how to be a change authority in her own life, but she warned her audience that there will always be obstacles.
“Whether you want to change world hunger or you want to change your weight, it’s the same thing,” Gibbons said. “You have to expect push-back.”
She also suggested that they find value in facing this fear and said that fear decreases as value increases.
“I’m afraid of sharks, but if my child fell into the ocean, I would be the first to jump in. And so would you,” Gibbons said. “Fear is everywhere, everywhere; you just have to find the upside in facing the downside.”