Julie Chen Reveals Family Secret: My Cousin Was Almost Raised as My Brother

After confessing that her maternal grandfather was a polygamist, Julie Chen shared another dark secret from the other side of her family on The Talk.

The Big Brother host, 45, revealed Tuesday that when she was a child, her father's mother tried to convince her parents to raise her cousin as their son because they had no male heir.

"In Chinese culture, giving birth to a boy is everything. It allows a family to continue the family name and all the traditional Chinese customs," said Chen, whose parents emigrated to the United States.

But they had three daughters, welcoming Chen's older sisters and then the CBS journalist in 1970, and her mother was considered too old to conceive again.

"My grandmother convinced my dad's youngest brother, who is 15 years younger than my dad, to give up his first-born son Chris to my parents to raise as their own son and as my younger brother, all so that the family 'shame' could be lifted," she explained. "So, my grandmother goes … to my mom with this idea, basically saying that me and my two older sisters have no value and that my parents are a huge disappointment for not having a son."

At the time, Chris was 2 years old, and Chen was 12.

Luckily, her mother refused and stood up to her elder – a big risk in their culture.

"My mom said absolutely not. She told her mother-in-law, 'I am raising these three girls to be independent, strong-minded, and I am teaching them to never be ashamed of who they are, what gender they are, and you should be proud of them,' " Chen said.

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