Joan Lunden lactated on Good Morning America while interviewing a senator
The anchor said she experienced her own version of “inflation and trickle down” while discussing economics with her interviewee.
Joan Lunden lactated on *Good Morning America *while interviewing a senator
The anchor said she experienced her own version of "inflation and trickle down" while discussing economics with her interviewee.
By Daysia Tolentino
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Daysia Tolentino
Daysia Tolentino is a writer at *. *She has written for * *since 2025. Her work has appeared in NBC News, Vulture, GQ, and InStyle.
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March 4, 2026 2:36 p.m. ET
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Former host Joan Lunden on the set of 'Good Morning America' in 2010. Credit:
Heidi Gutman/ABC via Getty
Former *Good Morning America** *host Joan Lunden recently recalled the struggles of being a new mom while working on the famed morning show.
The journalist appeared on *The View* on Tuesday to discuss her new memoir *JOAN: Life Beyond the Script*, which details her groundbreaking career, parenthood, and more. When she started at *Good Morning America*, she had asked ABC to allow her to bring her newborn daughter Jamie to work and the network obliged. It was a significant and progressive decision at a time when anchors couldn't even say "breastfeeding" on television.
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Joan Lunden attends Good Morning America's 50th Anniversary Celebration on November 3, 2025.
Manoli Figetakis/Getty
Lunden recalled that there were no "fancy breast pumps" when she started the job, so she had to figure out how to juggle breastfeeding with her work. Speaking to the ladies of *The View*, including her former *GMA *coworker Joy Behar, Lunden revealed that she lactated during an interview with a U.S. senator.
"I'm interviewing some senator, I think Ronald Reagan was president, talking about the 'trickle-down economics,'" she said. "And all of a sudden, obviously, Jamie was ready to feed and I had an inflation and trickle down."
After Lunden lactated, she said a hairdresser had to come blow dry her blouse. She elaborates on the incident in *JOAN*, sharing that the spots weren't very visible on camera. The veteran journo said "the show must go on" in an excerpt from Lunden's memoir in *PEOPLE**.*
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Joan Lunden attends "Good Morning America's" 40th Anniversary at GMA Studios on November 19, 2015.
D Dipasupil/Getty
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"It was one of the first times when I had to make some quick decisions about how to handle the juggling act," Lunden wrote. "In the end, the producers, who cared only that we were in the middle of a live national broadcast, had a good laugh with me about it and were completely supportive — and I think that's because I weathered it with a sense of humor. I dried off, kept smiling, and kept going."
On *The View,* Lunden sweetly reminisced on the times Behar, who served as a receptionist at *GMA *from 1979 to 1982, changed Jamie's diapers. When Behar made a face, Lunden admitted that the comedian did not do it "willingly."
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Joy Behar attends the "Rock & Roll Man" Off Broadway Opening Night at New World Stages on June 21, 2023.
Arturo Holmes/Getty
Behar was fired from *GMA, *which she believes happened because she wasn't very polite or tactful when answering the phone. When callers would ask for Lunden, she would tell them that the host was "upstairs lactating." Lunden had three daughters while working at the show and went on to have four more children via surrogate in the 2000s.
"You were always pregnant and always breastfeeding," Behar recalled.
Check out the full interview with Lunden on *The View* below.
Source: “EW Talk”