Ousted CNN boss Jeff Zucker’s affair with his colleague and CNN’s Executive vice-president/head of marketing, Allison Gollust was the “worst kept secret in TV”, according to new reports by the New York Post.
Rumors have circulated for years within the US media industry that CNN’s two most senior executives, Zucker and Gollust who made the decision to fire anchor Chris Cuomo, have been having an affair, and they both ended their marriages in recent years.
They reportedly took vacations together, went apartment hunting and went into each other’s hotel rooms for alleged “meetings,” .
The report added that Gollust has spent years lying about their affair, blasting reporters on numerous occasions for being “sexist” by suggesting she was sleeping with her boss.
The affair between Zucker and Gollust — who have worked together for 25 years — stretches back to when they both worked at NBC, according to multiple sources. TV insiders call them “the odd couple” because Gollust towers over Zucker.
Zucker was at NBC from 1986 to 2010, becoming the executive producer of “Today” then head of NBC Entertainment rising to President and CEO of NBC Universal. Gollust started at NBC in 1996, was the publicist for “Today” then became executive vice president of corporate communications at NBC Universal alongside Zucker.
Gollust was picked by the former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2012 to serve as his communications director. Zucker then brought her over to work with him at CNN according to the report.
“It was well known that they were sleeping together dating back to their time at NBC,” an NBC insider said.
“Second to the revelation that the Pope is Catholic, this affair is the least-shocking revelation in the world.”
“Second to the revelation that the Pope is Catholic, this affair is the least-shocking revelation in the world.”
“It was an open secret at @CNN that Jeff Zucker and Allison Gollust, who he hired as head of communications, were having an affair,” he tweeted.
“I was only there with them for four months in 2013 and knew. NBC folks knew when they worked together there. @katiecouric intimated that in her book!”
“The contention that Zucker’s romantic relationship with Allison Gollust ‘evolved’ during the COVID pandemic is absurd. They carried on the affair for years while the two occupied separate apartments at 32 E. 64th St,” a separate source said.
“Zucker would get on the elevator and visit Gollust when the coast was clear. They didn’t even have to leave their building. It was a perfect cover.”
Another insider said, “Zucker would disappear for hours on end, but Caryn initially had no idea that the woman she was being polite to in the elevator was sleeping with her husband.
“Everyone in the building knew about it – even the doormen tried to ensure Caryn wasn’t in the elevator at the same time as Allison.“
Zucker and TV producer Caryn (pictured below) met while both were working at NBC, when he was executive producer of “The Today Show” and she was working at “Saturday Night Live” They married in a lavish ceremony at the Pierre Hotel in 1996.