Poppy Harlow attends the 16th annual CNN Heroes on Dec. 11, 2022.Photo:Mike Coppola/Getty for CNN
Mike Coppola/Getty for CNN
CNN’sPoppy Harlowadmits that her relentless optimism could be viewed as a weakness, but in a year that’s unfolded very differently from what she imagined, her inability to shut down in the face of a challenge has become her superpower.
“I’m glad this is happening in my forties, because I have more perspective on things,” Harlow, 41, says. “I have two kids, so I know what really scary is — what real, real stress is — and this is not that.”
Harlow is of course referring to the responsibility she’s been given to nurture a fledgling newscast as the last remaining anchor ofCNN This Morning, just months after the show premiered with a team of three behind the desk, including her longtime friendDon Lemonand rising political journalistKaitlan Collins.
“It’s a time of transition,” she tells PEOPLE. “This was not what we expected, but it also is a moment to iterate and to create something new.”
Kaitlan Collins, Don Lemon and Poppy Harlow attend CNN Heroes on Dec. 11, 2022.Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Last fall, Harlow, Lemon and Collins were tapped to co-anchor CNN’s ambitious new three-hour morning show.CNN This Morningpremiered on Nov. 1, with guidance from the network’s then-CEO,Chris Licht, who spearheaded the launches of MSNBC’sMorning Joeand, later,CBS This Morning.
“You never want to be the story,” Harlow says of the negative press that followed Lemon’s remarks, “but it didn’t make it difficult [for us] to focus on the news. Don, Kaitlan and I came to set every day with the mission of doing what we love to do.”
Poppy Harlow with Charles Barkley, Shaq, and Kenny Smith ahead of NBA All-Star Weekend.Courtesy of CNN
Courtesy of CNN
“Don and I were friends for a very long time, for years and years,” Harlow reflects, noting that he flew to Slovenia to attend her wedding more than a decade ago. Despite their viral on-air back-and-forths, “He’s been a very, very important person to me,” she says. “And to my whole familywhen both my children were born.”
Thenews of Lemon’s departurecame days before Harlow and Collins would face all of their industry peers at theWhite House Correspondents' Dinnerin Washington. It was Harlow’s first time attending thestar-studded event, and she arrived already in a spotlight. Every journalist in the room wanted to know what she was thinking.
If she and Collins were feeling the pressure to keep the media gossip under control in D.C., you wouldn’t know it; they laughed and mingled at events throughout the weekend, walked the carpet with one another, and endured brutal jokes about Lemon during theCorrespondents' Dinner roast. They werethe new power duoofCNN This Morning —for a few weeks.
Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins attend the White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 29, 2023.Paul Morigi/Getty
Paul Morigi/Getty
Poppy Harlow, the face of ‘CNN This Morning’.Courtesy: CNN
Courtesy: CNN
Now in the process of re-envisioningCNN This Morning, Harlow has maintained an astonishing sense of calm.
“We knew going into the show on November 1 that in a year … it was not going to be the same show,” Harlow says. Though she may not have predictedCNN This Morningmorphing in the way that it did, she was prepared for the inevitable ups and downs that come with getting a new show on its feet.
In her mind, the new era ofCNN This Morningisn’t about topping the ratings — it’s about something much harder to quantify. “What I keep coming back to is relevance. I think that’s what really matters: Are you relevant in people’s lives?” she says. “How are you touching people and making them feel like they can relate?”
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Of course, the show’s ability to stay relevant depends largely on the talent propping up the show, and Harlow says she and her producers have worked very closely together on crafting the perfect anchor team to carry the show forward.
“We’re talking constantly about the characteristics of the person that I’ll get to sit next to, what matters most to me and what the best fit is for the team,” Harlow says. “I really care about sitting next to someone who lifts up [our off-camera] team, who cares about the goals of the team, who is kind, who is funny.”
“Humor is very important to me,” she explains, “especially when you’re waking up in the middle of the night.” And lastly, she hopes to sit beside someone who brings a curiosity to the job.
source: people.com
