I caught up with Gretchen recently to discuss her new book.<\/p>\n
Enjoy and grab a copy<\/a>!<\/p>\n In your book, you give people an inside peek behind the TV personality. What motivated you to give people this inside look at your life?<\/strong><\/p>\n Gretchen Carlson: When people watch me on TV they see part of my life. I wanted to let them know the real me behind the scenes. The child who was a concert violinist from the age of six. The young woman who took on the challenge to compete in the Miss America pageant. The television journalist for twenty-five years.<\/p>\n The mother of two who, just like most women, struggles to balance work and family. The battles I\u2019ve fought. How I\u2019ve come back from failure and disappointment. Thanks to my upbringing, I always believed in myself and worked as hard as I could to get where I wanted to be. Nothing was ever handed to me. My hope is that when people read my story, it will inspire them to reach for their goals and not give up. The real story is this: if I can do it, you can too.<\/p>\n Critical people tend to put every person who works for a news\u00a0organization into the same camp, saying things like\u00a0\u201cFox news believes this\u201d or\u00a0\u201cCNN does that\u201d or\u00a0\u201cMSNBC promotes this\u201d\u00a0\u2026 when in fact, each news network features different programs with different\u00a0people who have their own opinions. Seeing that you\u2019re a well known figure on one of these news networks, how do you respond to this kind of pigeon-holing?<\/strong><\/p>\n Gretchen Carlson: I joke that I reached the bimbo trifecta when I came to Fox News. In being a former Miss America, being blonde and then Fox. If you Google me, you\u2019ll find plenty of \u201cdumb blonde\u201d references\u2013even though I graduated with honors from Stanford and studied at Oxford University. I don\u2019t let it bother me. I\u2019ve learned that sometimes when people don\u2019t like what you have to say, and don\u2019t want to debate you on ideas, it\u2019s just easier to call you a dumb blonde from Fox News.<\/p>\n What lessons did you learn from being Miss America that would be of practical help to Christian teens and tweens?<\/strong><\/p>\n Gretchen Carlson: I grew up a fat kid in a small town in Minnesota who was a tomboy and happened to play a mean violin. \u00a0My goal was to be a famous concert artist some day. \u00a0I never had becoming Miss America on my radar screen. \u00a0But when I was 17, I decided to quit the violin and my parents were\u00a0devastated.<\/p>\n They wanted me to find another goal to achieve using my talent. \u00a0In the Miss America system talent is worth 50 percent of a contestant\u2019s points so my mom\u00a0encouraged me to give it a try. \u00a0And once I decided to do it, like anything else, I gave it 110 percent. \u00a0I believe every child is born with a gift from God\u00a0\u2014 big or small\u00a0\u2014 and that we should all make the most of our talents.<\/p>\n Miss America gets a lot of flak, but the reality is that it is incredibly uplifting and aspirational. I\u2019ve never understood why it\u2019s a negative to showcase a talented, smart woman who also happens to be attractive. The discipline learned from putting in time and effort as a child is a skill and a talent you carry with you for the rest of your life in trying to achieve goals. Pageants should be for young women able to make their own decisions about whether or not they want to take part in a program that advocates for young women and achievement.<\/p>\n In your book you talk a bit about the subject of sex before\u00a0marriage. What would you say to Christian teens who are taught by their peers and bombarded by media that you come from Planet 10 if you don\u2019t have sex before marriage?<\/strong><\/p>\n Gretchen Carlson: The first line of my book is \u2026 \u201cHave you ever had sex or are you waiting for marriage?\u201d The question came from a\u00a0New York City reporter at my very first press conference after becoming Miss America. She rudely asked me if I\u2019d ever had sex and whether or not there was anything about me that wasn\u2019t \u201creal.\u201d<\/p>\n She also quizzed me on current events to test whether I was \u201csmart.\u201d I realized she was trying to embarrass me, and it was a really mean thing to do to a twenty-two-year-old girl meeting the press for the first time. There\u2019s something about winning Miss America that brings out the snark. Many years later, when I was a national news correspondent, I saw her at an event and decided to approach her and tell her how demoralizing her comments were\u2014but how I\u2019d made it to the national scene anyway.<\/p>\n I felt vindicated that I decided to speak up for not only myself but women all across the nation who\u2019ve been put down. I am\u00a0raising my children with the\u00a0Christian faith and life lessons I was taught. I am equipping them with all of the\u00a0information and guidance as a parent and hope they will make sound decisions. The most important thing is to teach kids to stand firm in what they believe and not be swayed by detractors no matter what the subject matter.<\/p>\n What can you tell both women and men about the lessons you\u2019ve learned about balancing work, family, and your spiritual life?<\/strong><\/p>\n Gretchen Carlson: The first time I was asked whether women can \u201chave it all\u201d was at the Miss America pageant. I said no. I didn\u2019t mean that women shouldn\u2019t fully pursue their dreams, only that we need to be honest with ourselves. I\u2019m a person who likes to give 100 percent to everything I do. I want to be the best at my job and as a mother. But I\u2019m not superwoman. It\u2019s impossible to do everything 100 percent all of the time. And suggesting that women (or men) should be able to do it only puts more pressure on them.<\/p>\n For me, part of my balance is finding time for faith in my life as well. Everyone is busy, but I believe it depends on what you prioritize. My husband and I teach\u00a0Sunday\u00a0School together at our church and are very involved. \u00a0One of my Miss America judges called me a \u201cGod-clutcher\u201d way back when because I spoke about my faith being an important part of my life during my interview.<\/p>\n Our faith is what inspires us to reach out and volunteer to help others. As a child my parents taught me the biblical charge, \u201cTo whom much is given, much is expected,\u201d and faith guides me that way. And I believe, especially in this day and age, it\u2019s vital that we provide our children with a foundation from which to build their lives\u2014one that gives them a sense of purpose.<\/p>\n Anyone who is speaking to the public and has a substantive message is going to draw fire from level-headed critics as well as from trolls who sling dishonest personal attacks. What lessons have you learned about\u00a0handling both kinds of people?<\/strong><\/p>\n Gretchen Carlson: Social media has allowed people to ramp up their personal attacks on people in the public eye \u2013 because there is a sense they can do it anonymously. \u00a0Trust me, I don\u2019t read all the junk. \u00a0I joke if I did, I wouldn\u2019t get out of bed in the morning. But,\u00a0Sometimes the comments over the top\u2014really ugly. Many of them are critical of my looks, like the one that criticized my \u201cthunder thighs.\u201d I get that a lot. Some of the tweets are too vulgar to repeat.<\/p>\n At my age I can handle people writing junk about me on social media, but I sometimes air \u201cmean tweets\u201d on my show to highlight how destructive this meanness and bullying is to young people. I know how devastating it is for a young person to be the victim of such ugliness. I shine a light on it because if people feel comfortable saying it to me, then they must feel doubly comfortable saying it to one of their friends. I can only imagine how it affects kids who are so vulnerable.<\/p>\n In a paragraph, what is your best advice for Christian parents who have teens?<\/strong><\/p>\n Gretchen Carlson: We\u2019ve all heard from our kids,\u00a0\u201cThat isn\u2019t fair\u201d\u00a0\u2026 or\u00a0\u201cNone of my friends have to do it\u00a0that way.\u201d\u00a0 Well, part of parenting is making the\u00a0difficult choices and sticking to them. \u00a0Its a lot easier to parent by just giving in to what everyone else is\u00a0doing. The\u00a0challenging part of parenting is to stick to your ideals and not give in. \u00a0Our 12 year old daughter was the last in her class to get a cell phone and she had to earn it. \u00a0She still\u00a0doesn\u2019t have Instagram although she asks me for it every day.<\/p>\n We have rules in the house and a sticker chart for my kids to earn technology time. Maybe its because of the world I live in and work,\u00a0that I don\u2019t see much\u00a0of\u00a0anything beneficial that comes out of social media for kids. Even though its how they communicate now, so you have to find the fine balance. I hear parents at church say,\u00a0\u201cwell my kids\u00a0don\u2019t want to come to\u00a0Sunday\u00a0School so I don\u2019t make them.\u201d<\/p>\n Well, in our family,\u00a0at this point, its not a choice for my kids. It\u2019s a duty for us as parents to give them faith as a foundation and hope that when they\u00a0bemuse older teens and young adults they will choose the same thing for themselves.<\/p>\n In a paragraph, what is your best\u00a0advice for Christians who are experiencing discouragement, feeling that God hasn\u2019t come through for them like they expected?<\/strong><\/p>\n Gretchen Carlson: There are no\u00a0guarantees in life, but I believe faith provides all of us with a foundation to live the best lives possible\u00a0\u2014\u00a0knowing that there is a higher being who loves us and will never leave us. \u00a0Through the many struggles in my life, my faith is sometimes the only thing I have to hold onto. \u00a0God was my only friend.<\/p>\n Unfortunately life\u00a0isn\u2019t fair and some things that happen\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0make any sense. \u00a0To me, faith is being thankful when things in life are going well and also being thankful when they are not. \u00a0Its often through our most\u00a0difficult times when faith lifts us up and gives us the courage and the strength to work even harder to accomplish a new goal or do something we never thought we could. \u00a0That is my message in\u00a0\u201cGetting Real\u201d.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n For more information about \u201cGetting Real\u201d please visit\u00a0GretchenCarlson.com<\/a>\u00a0and watch \u201cThe Real Story with Gretchen Carlson on the Fox News channel at 2ET\u00a0Monday-Friday.<\/em><\/p>\n Get a copy of Getting Real<\/em> on discount<\/a><\/p>\n Frank Viola<\/a>, who conducted this interview, is the bestselling author of the new book The Day I Met Jesus: The Revealing Diaries of Five Women form the Gospels<\/a> written with popular Christian novelist Mary DeMuth.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/301\/2015\/08\/GR.jpg\")
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