The former TV executive said that therapy “saved me.” Johnson eventually left BET in 2006 and Lee became chief executive, clearing a new path on her own terms.Ĭompany Town BET Networks chief Debra Lee steps down as executive shake-up continues I was embarrassed to talk with my family about it. There weren’t a lot of women ahead of me. So it was a tough time and I didn’t have anyone to talk to about it because I didn’t have female role models. By that time I was a single mother with two children.

I would’ve lost my career, my job, my ability to maybe get another job I couldn’t get a reference. She shared how at that point she was 20 years into her career at BET and was told that if she wanted to break up with Johnson, she should leave the company the next day. And my job and my career was held over my head.” I saw it wasn’t a long-term relationship. The downfall of a relationship like that is if you want to get out of it. And then people knew about the relationship. “We did have a relationship while we were both married, we ended up both divorced. He was responsible for a lot of my success,” Lee said. Recounting a passage from the memoir, Lee told Roberts on Tuesday how she worked for Johnson for 10 years before they began a personal romance. Paramount Global, which owns BET, is looking to sell a majority stake in the Black-themed programming division.

Company Town Tyler Perry, Byron Allen look to buy BET stake, sparking possible bidding war

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