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Sunday, December 6, 2009

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November 01, 2006

Daryn Kagan's Class Act

It's not easy to be rejected, but popular former CNN morning host Daryn Kagan has more than come to grips with it. For the first time, the 12-year CNN veteran tells Whispers that the cable network's suits dropped her–and didn't even tell her why.

"CNN came to me in January and told me they weren't going to renew my contract," she says. So how did she react to that classless act? She shrugged and said it was a sign to move on. "I never asked why. I just took it as a nudge from the universe that it's time to go do this thing."

This thing is her new website, a home for inspirational news that we'll be previewing in next week's magazine edition of Washington Whispers.

For Kagan, her positive attitude isn't an act. When I pressed her on the whole CNN mess, she did exactly the opposite of what most of us would do: She thanked CNN for her years of service.

"I think we parted ways well and I'm very appreciative for the 12 years at CNN," she said. "It went well beyond any dream I ever had of what I was going to do in news."

She was fun and chipper in my 28-minute interview, even taking on–and dismissing–popular myths about her on the Internet, like some of the crazy tales on her Wikipedia profile. For instance: She does not sleep with a teddy bear and isn't a NASCAR junkie, though the former CNN sports anchor can more than hold her own with gearheads.

"I can chat as a casual gearhead," she says.

What's true: She still jogs 6 miles four days a week. At 6 a.m., no less.

Posted at 12:59 PM by PaulBedard
 « Sorry, but Hillary Likes Crosses
Yet Another Way to Predict Tuesday » 


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