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American Morning
Shriver Speaking Out on Scandal; Suicide Watch on IMF Chief; Giffords to Undergo More Surgery; Waiting for the Flood; Oprah: The Final Episodes; Dirty Jobs Equals Good Jobs; 'Love Child' Fallout
Aired May 18, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING, all along the swollen Mississippi River entire towns are underwater. And now, flood victims in Louisiana are being warned about another threat, snakes.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Wow. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, a long road to recovery. She'll undergo skull surgery today. We'll be talking to the doctor who's performing that operation.
ROMANS: And the queen of daytime TV shooting two of the final three episodes of her legendary show. Wait until you see who showed up for Oprah's extravaganza.
CHETRY: It'll probably take less time to talk about who didn't show up for her.
ROMANS: I know.
CHETRY: Also, you'll meet the man who just ate his 25,000th Big Mac, and guess which American actor is actually related to the queen next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. A lot happening overnight. Let's get you caught up.
New details on the news that stunned the nation. Maria Shriver and the kids breaking their silence after Arnold Schwarzenegger admits he fathered a child with a woman who works in their home.
CHETRY: And the secret that everyone is talking about. Twenty thousand Oprah Winfrey fans packing Chicago's United Center for a farewell spectacular. We'll tell you who was on the A-list on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And good morning to you. Good to see everybody this morning. Glad you're with us on this AMERICAN MORNING.
New details as you were talking about on the Schwarzenegger front. The family, obviously this is extremely painful.
ROMANS: Right.
CHETRY: Not going to be kept private, obviously at this point and they're speaking out this morning.
ROMANS: That's right. We've got new details on the confession from Arnold Schwarzenegger that he fathered a child with a long time family staff member more than a decade ago. Today's "New York Times" reports the child is a boy, about 14 years old, and his mother was working in the Schwarzenegger's home while she was pregnant. At the same time, the paper says Schwarzenegger's wife, Maria Shriver, she was pregnant with the youngest of the couple's four children.
CHETRY: And Shriver released a statement saying, "This is a painful and heartbreaking time. As a mother, my concern is for the children. I ask for compassion, respect and privacy as my children and I try to rebuild our lives and heal. I will have no further comment."
Now, Shriver is not isolating herself though. She appeared last night at the taping of Oprah Winfrey's farewell show in Chicago. Jessica Yellin has been following the story and she talks about Shriver as an empowered woman who already knows what she wants next out of life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATL. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: There's been a lot of talk about Maria Shriver lately, because once she announced the split, there was this YouTube video that came up where she looked emotionally raw and talked about transitions and the people close to her say this is who she is. She's planning to pursue a sort of journalism activism career next step where she opens up and talks about raw emotions like this. And this is what we should expect from her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The couple's 17-year-old son, Patrick, opened up with this tweet. "Some days you feel like the "s" word. Some days you want to quit and just be normal for a bit. Yet I love my family till death do us part. That tweet signed Patrick Shriver, not Schwarzenegger.
CHETRY: Well, the Schwarzenegger's are a family in crisis right now. It leads us to the question of the day, what do you think of the way that Arnold and Maria have publicly handled the situation, especially as it relates to the kids?
ROMANS: That's right. You can e-mail us, tweet us, go to our blog, find us on Facebook. We'll be reading your comments later in the hour.
CHETRY: Meanwhile, the pressure is building on the head of the International Monetary Fund to step down after his arrest on charges of trying to rape a hotel maid.
ROMANS: Dominique Strauss-Kahn remains in a New York jail cell where guards are now taking some extra precautions. Deb Feyerick is here with more on suicide watch we're told, but may not necessarily mean he's trying to commit suicide.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Exactly. He's not suicidal per se. That's not why they did it. This is a precaution that they take especially with high-profile people at Rikers Island. That's why officials did that.
Dominique Strauss on a suicide watch, not suicidal. This is really just a precaution because this is a man who should be meeting with presidents, prime ministers, power brokers and instead he is alone, isolated from the general prison population on a special wing of Rikers Island where he's being checked every 15 minutes. Again, not necessarily because he's on suicide watch, that's really just the way they do it in this particular wing of Rikers.
Now, he has received one visit. It's not clear whether it's his wife, the famous French TV journalist, Anne Sinclair, who arrived on Monday. Strauss-Kahn's lawyers have given no statements since the hearing but they've said that their client intends to plead not guilty. When we asked the lawyer for the alleged victim, a 32-year-old West African whether this could have been consensual, here's the answer we got.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFFREY SHAPIRO, ATTORNEY FOR ALLEGED VICTIM: There wasn't any aspect of this encounter which in any way could be construed as consensual or anything other than physical and sexual assault of this young woman. She's frightened. Yes, totally frightened. This is a person who assaulted her and raped her, and she's -- any television program that she turns on, he's pictured on it. She has to relive this. It's a nightmare that keeps recycling in her mind and she can't escape from it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Deb, what more are we learning about the alleged victim at the center of this case.
FEYERICK: Well, she is a 32-year-old from Guinea. She has a 15-year- old daughter. She's been working legally at the Sofitel for about 2 1/2 years. Her lawyer describes her as dignified, intelligent, no pretense, somebody who gets along very well with her supervisors and co-workers. And on the day of the alleged assault, this housekeeper entered the luxury suite around noon. She thought it was empty. That's when Dominique Strauss-Kahn supposedly shut the door and the alleged sexual assault took place. Her lawyer telling us she's afraid to go home. She's afraid to go to work. She really just doesn't know what her future is right now.
CHETRY: And has she testified about any of this before a grand jury?
FEYERICK: She has not. Her lawyer says that she is ready to testify, she's willing to testify, and that this is sort of the first step. You know, I also asked, why a private lawyer? Why does somebody need a private lawyer when you've got all these prosecutors at the district attorney's office working with a very specialized unit and he said that right now, he's just there to protect her, trying to get her through this ordeal, trying to get through this difficult time. Because again, you have to imagine the scrutiny is intense.
CHETRY: Right.
FEYERICK: She showed up at her home --
CHETRY: Getting the counsel --
ROMANS: Considering a civil suit?
FEYERICK: You know, he wouldn't go that far.
ROMANS: Right.
FEYERICK: He wouldn't go that far. Not just yet.
ROMANS: OK, Deb Feyerick. Thank you, Deb.
CHETRY: Thanks, Deb.
ROMANS: More surgery for Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, possibly as early as today. Just days after Giffords traveled from rehab in Houston to the Kennedy Space Center to see the space shuttle Endeavour, of course, launch with her husband Mark Kelly in command.
CHETRY: That's right. Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen spoke exclusively to the doctor who's going to perform this surgery. Elizabeth joins us from Atlanta right now.
Elizabeth, when we talk about this, is this almost the final piece of the puzzle in terms of her recovery when it comes to the actual brain injury?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. This surgery sort of marks the beginning of the end, if you will. And I sat down exclusively with her neurosurgeon. His name is Dr. Dong Kim and he is the chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Texas. And he showed me something, it's very interesting. Let's take a look.
It's a model of a skull and there's a hole in it. And that hole is the hole, as you can see right there, that they took out of her skull, because they wanted to leave room for swelling. And then what they do, if you see that blue piece on the table, that actually fits right into that hole. They screw it in with screws and plates. You can see it doing it right there. It is not her real bone. She's not going to get that back we're told. It's actually an implant. It's synthetic. And that's often done in cases like this. And it's sort of the beginning of a new stage of recovery. Once someone has that piece of their skull back, they can possibly even leave rehab pretty quickly and go and do their rehab as an outpatient.
CHETRY: And that's amazing. Do we know anything else about further procedures she'll need and also what her psychological recovery is at this point?
COHEN: Right.
CHETRY: I mean, in terms of her capabilities? COHEN: Dr. Kim tells me that often in these situations they have to do another procedure and it's called an internal shunt. And here's what's going on.
When people have an injury like hers, they often get something called hydrocephalus. And hydrocephalus is a buildup of fluid in the brain. And you can't walk around with that for long. That needs to go somewhere. The fluid has to go somewhere. So what they do is an internal shunt that's actually a tubing, that blue is tubing that will go into her abdomen and the excess fluid will actually travel through that tubing and get dumped in her abdomen and she'll walk around with that, you know, for the people walk around with that for the rest of their life. And Dr. Kim tells me that when he does this to patients, they sort of forget about it at a certain point.
And you mentioned psychologically, you know, we're told that she's doing very well, that she's very positive, and that is a huge, important part of recovery. The patient's attitude is really key.
CHETRY: All right. Well, we certainly wish her all the best. This is a big surgery not to be taken lightly.
ROMANS: That's right.
CHETRY: But hopefully as you said, the beginning of a new chapter for her. Thanks, Elizabeth.
COHEN: Thanks.
CHETRY: Two doctors who evaluated Jared Lee Loughner, the man accused of shooting Gabrielle Giffords, will not have to testify at a competency hearing next week. Both the prosecution and the defense have agreed not to dispute the findings on whether Loughner is mentally fit to stand trial. The 22-year-old is charged with shooting six people and killing them, wounding 12 others, including Giffords, in Tucson back in January.
ROMANS: Oklahoma Republican Senator Tom Coburn is quitting the gang of six. That's the bipartisan group of senators working on deficit reduction. He says the discussions between the three Democrats and three Republicans have reached an impasse.
CHETRY: That's right. The White House, meantime, hitting back at charges that the latest round of health care reform waivers are, quote, "corrupt." Conservatives take issue with the fact that nearly 20 percent of these waivers granted last month went to businesses and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's district. But the administration says it's been completely transparent about the process and that more than 90 percent of all waiver requests have been approved and these particular California businesses simply applied for a waiver to prevent significant premium increases or a loss of coverage.
ROMANS: Doctors now saying men should get the HPV vaccine too. The human papilloma virus is the sexually transmitted disease that can lead to cervical cancer in women and it's recommended for women under 26 years old. This vaccine. But researchers now say it can also help prevent certain cancers in men and that boys should also be vaccinated. The FDA approved the first HPV vaccine, Gardasil, back in 2006.
CHETRY: Well, he is fast foods iron man. This is Don Gorske. I don't know if we should say congratulations or if we should say did you get a checkup lately. But the 57-year-old Wisconsin man just ate his 25,000th Big Mac. He says he's had at least one a day for the past 39 years. And it takes him exactly 16 bites every time. He also keeps all of the boxes stacked in the basement.
ROMANS: Wow.
CHETRY: Can you believe this? I wonder if he dated all the way back to when they were in Styrofoam.
ROMANS: I don't know. But look. It says to all beef patty specials (INAUDIBLE). I don't think that's their slogan anymore.
CHETRY: Well, he's eclectic. That's for sure. He isn't overweight. He says he always gets good cholesterol numbers. Guinness, by the way, recognized the feat three years ago, three years and 2,000 Big Macs ago. Now, I can put away some Big Macs, but 25,000.
ROMANS: Yes. I like fast food but not to that degree.
It's 10 minutes after the hour. Let's get a quick check of the morning's weather headlines. Jacqui Jeras is in the extreme weather center. And I bet she's once a quarter Big Mac consumer.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you know, I don't hate the Big Mac. But, oh my gosh, is that the only thing that he eats all day?
CHETRY: I don't know.
JERAS: Because, yes, he's this big, right?
CHETRY: I don't know.
The fact that he saves all the boxes in the basement, I guess that was in case Guinness wanted to count. Right? Maybe.
JERAS: How much space would that take up, right?
CHETRY: A lot.
JERAS: Like the entire basement.
All right. Hey, you know, speaking of basements, hate to use that as a transition, but, you know, people are concerned about their basements in the northeast and the mid-Atlantic because a lot of them are starting to take on some water. We've got residential areas that have flooding into the northeast as well as coastal flooding. We've got this area of low pressure that's been sitting there, guys, really since the weekend, and this thing just hasn't been budging. And we're not going to see a lot of progress with it until later in the week. So, in the meantime, expect more heavy downpours. It's going to be periods of rain today. You know, kind of on and off, but you're definitely going to be needing that umbrella.
Flood watches and warnings are stacked up across much of the northeastern corridor. There you can see it. Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, and into western parts of Massachusetts, all included here. So watch for that throughout the day today. And use a lot of caution out there driving.
The nation's midsection starting to kick in with some stormy conditions. We've got showers and thundershowers this morning from Nebraska down into parts of Missouri. We think these will fire back up again later on this afternoon and a few of those storms could be severe. And also the West Coast still dealing with all that heavy snow into the sierra. That should be winding down by tomorrow, but really cold temperatures, guys. It's cold in the west. It's cold in the east. Really only the southern plains seeing those warm temperatures. It is not feeling like May. Lots of record lows yesterday morning, probably see a few of those this morning as well.
CHETRY: All right. Yes, it's been raining cats and dogs around here. We sandbagged around our house, I mean.
ROMANS: You did?
JERAS: Did you?
CHETRY: Yes.
ROMANS: Wow.
CHETRY: My husband was hauling 500 pounds. I don't know if it will be enough. We'll have to see. But, man, it's been a tough time for -- as we've seen across the country.
ROMANS: All right.
JERAS: Yes.
ROMANS: Meanwhile, Endeavour about to dock at the International Space Station, not even two days ago. We're watching the liftoff and now the hard work begins. We'll give you the very latest on that.
CHETRY: Also on Sugar Ray Leonard, champion boxer. He has a new book out and in it he makes a stunning admission about being sexually abused when he was a young boxer.
ROMANS: And Oprah Winfrey, her fans lining up for a seat at one of the final shows at the United Center in Chicago. A lot of people in there and some pretty amazing tearful moments. We'll bring them to you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Now to the epic flooding that's causing so much misery in the south. Here's the latest. The Coast Guard now reopening a 15-mile stretch of the Mississippi River near Natchez, parts further south, though, are still closed here as this big wall of water move downs the river.
CHETRY: Yes. Vital shipping channel as well, it's troublesome that that had to be shut down, parts again that reopened. Also, it's estimated that more than 9,000 people in Louisiana and Mississippi have been forced from their homes in an effort to get away from these floodwaters.
ROMANS: And officials are warning everyone to watch out for snakes when they return to their flooded homes. I can't even look at these pictures. Twenty-three different species, three of them venomous, they've been displaced from their habitats by the floodwaters. Officials say they're looking for - for some place dry. Boy, I mean, copper heads, all different kinds of snakes.
CHETRY: I know. It's just - it is - as if it's not bad enough that you're going back to your house, if you have a house to go back to -
ROMANS: Right.
CHETRY: You don't know how much damage, and then you're concerned about poisonous -
ROMANS: Right.
CHETRY: -- snakes.
ROMANS: We heard, yes, last week about the alligators, right?
CHETRY: Yes.
ROMANS: I mean, if they're concerned about alligators in some parts that they've been flushed out of their - of their homes as well.
CHETRY: Well, they don't have anywhere to go either. Exactly.
ROMANS: We have to tell you, you have to be very careful off the water's edge.
CHETRY: Yes. Well, after the devastating floods back in 1973, what they did was - in a 22-foot seawall built up to protect the people of Morgan City, Louisiana. It's located about 70 miles west of New Orleans and about 60 miles south of Baton Rouge.
ROMANS: And people who live there like to call it the gateway to the Gulf of Mexico. Right now they're hoping they don't become part of the Gulf of Mexico.
Rob Marciano is live for us this morning in Morgan City. Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys. Thanks for the wake-up call about the snakes and the alligators. I'll not be looking in the county (ph) the entire time here.
I haven't seem much this morning, but we have seen those kind of critters throughout the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Basin, those - those guys definitely looking for higher - higher ground. As are people and the home behind me, they have taken action to get to higher ground and there's not a lot of it here across parts of Morgan City. So they brought in some heavy equipment yesterday and they jack this thing up. Took about 19 hours to do it.
Good thing is about that they did with the Grub (ph) household, (INAUDIBLE) well connected and they've got some friends who have that heavy equipment. They just had to pay for some of the supplies. Jacked it up about eight - six feet now. It's eight feet. But this time next week, the water will probably be up to my neck, which will take it just to the bottom of the top - the bottom floor there of the house. That two bedroom, one bathroom house with a large living room.
So it's not just the trailer. I mean, this house has been here for 140 years, so certainly worth saving. And that's the reason actually it was built outside the protective sand walls of Morgan City. Been talking about this town for a couple of days now.
I want to show you some historical pictures. We spoke about those floods of 1927 and 1937. The 1927 flood just devastated Morgan City and after the 1937 Flood Control Act, they've decided, you know what, we've got to take some actions. So they've built that flood wall, that sea wall that you spoke of to about 8 to 10 feet. But 1973, that's what came in and that was devastating as well, although not quite as bad as '27. And since then, they've built that flood wall up to 22 feet around much of the city although the northern part of the city is relatively unprotected. It may have been trying to shore up that part of the levee system.
Again, the flood, the water expected here to crest not until around this time next week and some folks have taken some drastic action in order to do that. Outside the flood - outside the seawall, outside the levee protection, these are the folks that we've been talking to that for one reason or another, be it their house was built well before that flood protection was built or because that's where they've lived their entire life, they are having to move to higher ground.
I'll say this. There are 22 shelters, guys, that are ready to be opened in Louisiana. Not one has been opened yet. So there hasn't been that much of a demand, not because people haven't left, but because this is the kind of state if you know you're going to be out of your house for a couple weeks, you've got friends, you've got friend - you've got family, you call them up and you just move in with them.
So the Red Cross is ready to go, as far as housing some of these people, but it's also kind of a wait and see attitude because this - this water is moving relatively slowly. They're kind of, you know, moving out slowly but surely. Christine, Kiran, back to you.
CHETRY: All right. Rob, thanks so much.
ROMANS: Right now, the space shuttle "Endeavour" is doing something it's never going to do again, right? It's docking for the very last time with the International Space Station. This is a live feed from NASA. This is the 36th and next to last link up between a shuttle and the space station. There's another launch in July of - of the "Atlantis" I believe.
When the shuttle was within nine miles, Commander Mark Kelly ignited the ship's twin maneuvering engine. NASA calls it the terminal initiation burn. The engine firing will propel "Endeavour" into its final phase. In less than three hours, the crew will install two radio communication satellites, an ammonia coolant tank, a high pressure gas tank and a spare arm for Dexter, that's the station's two armed robot.
So live pictures there, it's happening right now, history in the - in the making here for "Endeavour."
CHETRY: That's right. Closing the history books on this chapter.
ROMANS: That's right.
CHETRY: That's the sad part.
Well, some stunning revelations coming from boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard in his upcoming biography. According to an excerpt in "The New York Times," Leonard claims he was sexually abused as a young fighter by a prominent Olympic boxing coach. Sugar ray's book "The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring" will be published next month.
ROMANS: And it's a sight that no one would have believed a generation ago. Queen Elizabeth II laying a wreath at a monument in - to Ireland's fallen, a symbolic gesture of friendship during a historic visit to the country.
And this morning, we're wondering how Queen Elizabeth might take the news that she's related to a pirate. Well, "The Daily Mail" is reporting that Johnny Depp is the Queen's distant cousin. Apparently, they share the same blood line that goes back to 15th century aristocrats. Johnny Depp did not get an invite to the royal wedding, by the way.
ROMANS: All right.
Up next on AMERICAN MORNING, inside Bernie Madoff's liquor cabinet. And would you like to buy a bottle of his very fine wine?
CHETRY: I never get this one. Bernie Madoff's slippers. Bernie Madoff's - I mean, who - you know, who wants that?
ROMANS: His logo bags. Well, you know, the government selling off every last piece of this guy's fake empire so they can pay back his victims. So the Madoff liquor cabinet is next.
CHETRY: All right. Live from Chicago, an inside look at the two final tapings of "Oprah." Talking about an end of an era. Thousands came out to bid the queen of daytime talk farewell.
It's 23 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROMANS: Twenty-six minutes past the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner warning Congress that failing to raise the debt ceiling is simply, quote, "not an option." Speaking last night, Geithner also said he is optimistic lawmakers will reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling and reign in deficits and spending.
Big oil keeps its tax breaks for now. The Senate blocking a Democratic measure that would have stripped oil companies of about $20 billion in tax subsidies over the next 10 years. Those savings would have been used to pay down the deficit. The White House calls the vote disappointing.
Here's your chance to get a bottle of alcohol from Bernie Madoff's extensive collection. Online bidding begins today on nearly 300 bottles of wine and liquor from his former mansion in Palm Beach, Florida. All proceeds, of course, go to a fund for victims of his Ponzi scheme.
LinkedIn is about to become the first U.S. social network to go public, expected to begin trading this week with a value of more than $4.3 billion.
And if you're doing some spring cleaning, don't toss out the old flip flops. Instead, take them to Old Navy. The retailer is collecting flip flops and recycling them into playground equipment. You have until Saturday.
AMERICAN MORNING will be right back after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Thirty minutes past the hour right now.
Are you a big Oprah Winfrey fan?
ROMANS: I am. I feel like I grew up with Oprah. IF feel like I -- and watched her meteoric rise, but also -- she told -- and tells the stories of America, it's such a real personal way. So, yes, I would say --
CHETRY: I know. And I'm going to miss Oprah being around because she's actually saying farewell, and now, it's the final ovation and thousands of other people, fans, packed Chicago's United Center for a chance to be part of this -- the taping of a two-part farewell spectacular. It will air May 23rd and 24th.
And we're going to show you some of the first clips from inside. We're going to get a live report from Chicago in just a few minutes.
ROMANS: All right. The world's banker is now on suicide watch in a jail cell in New York City. IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn remains locked up after his arrest on charges that he attempted to rape a hotel maid. Pressure is now building for him to step down from his possession because of potentially huge consequences for Europe's economy.
CHETRY: Maria Shriver breaking her silence after her husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger, stunned the country, admitting that he had a child with a household staff member. Shriver saying this is painful and heartbreaking. Some of the other new reported details, the age of this child, said to be 14 years old, which would mean that the woman was pregnant right around the same time that Maria Shriver was pregnant with their last child.
ROMANS: And a source close to Arnold Schwarzenegger telling CNN that this has been hard for him, this revelation has been very hard for him, and that he has stressed to all of his friends not to talk to the media about his family and trying to sort of take a step back from this.
But, clearly, there's a media firestorm about this as the public wants to know and we want to know what you want to know. What do you think of the way Arnold and Maria have publicly handled this situation, e- mail us, tweet us, go to our blog, find us on Facebook. We'll be reading your comments later this hour.
Two of the final three Oprah Winfrey shows ready to air next week and what a scene it was at the taping in Chicago yesterday. The United Center packed with 20,000 passionate fans and A-list of celebrity guests fit for a queen, queen of daytime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MADONNA, MUSICIAN: She's just all heart. I mean, she's an incredible woman. To be near her and to, you know -- I mean, the great thing about Oprah is that even if you don't know her personally, you feel like you know her personally. And that's, you know, a talent that she has. You know, she's very accessible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: With all those other people know her as well as we know her? Is that everyone feels like they really know Oprah.
CHETRY: Exactly. Madonna's trying to nail it there.
ROMANS: Right.
CHETRY: Kareen Wynter is live in Chicago this morning.
So, all of these fans, was it just first come, first serve if you waited in line, you could get in there and get a chance to watch that taping?
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, some people showed up, it was incredible, right before the show and they got tickets. In fact, one woman we spoke with, she had brought her sister with her and they bumped into Gayle King and guess what? They scored lucky tickets inside. So, pretty much, it was lined up beforehand. But there were people showing up the day of yesterday and, boy, were they dazzled by last night's event? You know, Oprah hates surprises. She basically told her producers, "I will just sit back and wait to see the night unfold," and unfold it did. I don't think she would have traded anything for yesterday. All of her fans, all of her celebrity fans came out, everyone from Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Madonna you just heard from, Patti LaBelle, Will Smith, Aretha Franklin.
And she was brought to tears. It wasn't just members of the audience crying, nope. Oprah was as well. She was touched by all of this love.
And it wasn't just stars saying, you know what? Oprah, we love you. You're great.
No, they were highlighting all of her work, from education, to the environment -- issues that she really, really, truly carried about.
We caught up with one of her really good pals, TV host and interior decorator Nate Berkus. And this is what he said, he described as his favorite Oprah moment. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NATE BERKUS, HOST, THE NATE BERKUS SHOW: I think the one moment I won't forget was when I came back from Asia after the tsunami and lost my partner. And I sat on the show on a stage so comfortable to me. It was like anyone's watching -- it would be like them sitting on their own sofa in their home. That's how comfortable it was to me.
To be back on the stage of the Oprah Winfrey show and I looked at Oprah in the middle of the interview, and she had a blank stare at me, because she completely understood how I was feeling at that moment. And if anyone, anywhere, ever asks what the magic of Oprah really is about, it's about that level of empathy. I'll never forget that moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WYNTER: The stories really were endless. Just a snap shot there from one star who talked about how Oprah shaped his life -- Kiran, Christine.
ROMANS: Wow. And Maria Shriver was there last night, too. And she thanked Oprah for 30 years of friendship saying that Oprah had shaped her life, too.
WYNTER: That's right. She walked out on stage with Oprah's best friend Gayle King, both women as you mentioned, they've known Oprah more than 30 years. It was a very, very short. But, boy, was she dressed to kill, in a stunning navy sequin dress. She didn't -- she didn't say much, but she really thanked Oprah for her years of friendship for teaching her the truth and then, Oprah interjected saying, here's to the truth.
And what was so special about that moment, it's almost as if everyone in that audience embraced her. They knew what she was going through with her very public scandal, the split from Arnold. There were no specific references to that, but she could see, it was a very, very touching moment there on stage for her.
CHETRY: It's interesting, though, Kareen, because some who were there said it was almost a dig at Arnold without saying anything because she said, "Thank you for telling me the truth," and they both sort of said that word and then the audience erupted. So, very interesting. That was file video, by the way, of Maria Shriver.
ROMANS: That wasn't last night.
CHETRY: Yes. So, we'll be seeing it. We'll be seeing that soon, of course, when the shows air.
Kareen, thanks so much.
WYNTER: Thanks.
CHETRY: No sympathy, though, for Arnold Schwarzenegger from late night comedians. We're going to hear how they -- their take on the situation, I guess you could say, coming up.
ROMANS: And have you -- you guys know this guy, right? "Dirty Jobs," Mike Rowe, he gets down -- he put on a suit. He did a very dirty job. He had to go to Washington, one of the dirtiest jobs in the world, right?
CHETRY: I don't know. I saw the one he was in a sewer, shoveling things out of a sewer, I'd say that's worse.
ROMANS: Yes. Well, I don't know -- have you seen how they make the sausage in D.C.? OK, working to redefine what a good job is. He's going to come to the defense of the blue collar jobs, right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: OK. All this week, CNN is taking an in-depth look at America's job hunt.
For decades the message: go to college, get the white collar job -- that has ruled America. But Mike Rowe, the host of "Dirty Jobs," is working to change that. He's stressing that good jobs are often the ones that built and still build this country.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (voice-over): You know him as the host of "Dirty Jobs."
MIKE ROWE, DIRTY JOBS: My name is Mike Rowe. That's my job.
ROMANS: Where he catches snakes.
ROWE: I'm being bit by a snake.
ROMANS: Cleans up tar. ROWE: Doing some glopping (ph).
ROMANS: And deals with a lot of dirt.
And now, Mike's taking on an issue he says he learned from the people who deal with all our dirt.
ROWE: We've got this great rift in between blue and white collar. I would just say that our society is waged a sort of cold war on work.
ROMANS: A war on a specific type of work, skilled labor. As our workforce shifted to more white collar jobs and the definition of a good job changed, lucrative skilled labor careers such as plumbers, electricians and machinists have seen their image suffer.
ROWE: There's a category of work, though, in our work force that's critical and those jobs have come to feel like, call it vocational consolation prizes, and we are simply not celebrating their contribution. That's why you have a skills gap right now, at the same time as you have unemployment.
ROMANS: According to the Department of Labor, skilled labor like plumbers and steam fitters will see a 16 percent increase in the number of jobs available by the year 2018. Skilled construction workers, a 19 percent bump.
The problem: finding workers with the right qualifications to fill the jobs, and an aging work force that will retire soon.
ROWE: All my other suits are made out of rubber.
ROMANS: This problem brought Mike all the way to Capitol Hill, where he testified in front of the Senate Commerce Committee about the skilled labor crisis.
ROWE: We need a national PR campaign for skilled labor, like a big one, something that addresses the widening skills gap head on and reconnects the country with the most important part of our workforce.
ROMANS: They are the, quote, "dirty jobs." And while not glamorous, they are essential to keep the country running.
ROWE: It's not about oh, no, the poor tradesman. They're going to be fine. They're going to be great, in fact. It's the rest of us who rely on their work. We're going to take it in the neck.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: And I agree with him on that. And I think these dirty jobs are ladder jobs. It's something that I talked about and write about a lot. A ladder job, you can work an entry level in these or you can own your own business. You can work up the ladder and become a small business owner and employ other people working in the industry.
So, it's a very big growth part of the economy. Labor Department report concerned that there's not enough focus on that. We've got this job growth there.
CHETRY: Right.
ROMANS: But we're not necessarily fitting people into those.
CHETRY: Right. And the other question is, and they talk a lot about this after the financial downturn, which was: we have to start, you know, retraining workers, we have to start helping people that -- whose job may never come back, do something else.
So, as you talk about in the beginning where the focus has always been on college and white collars, there is a renewed focus on some of these vocations -- vocational schools.
ROMANS: That's right. You're hearing a lot more about it, making sure that we have more vocational training for our young people, vocational schools, but also vocational training in high schools.
But guess what? Budget cuts mean a lot of places are losing vocational training in high schools and a lot of high schools are having trouble just teaching reading, writing and arithmetic, let alone the vocational, too. So, a lot of challenges there.
But in terms of the PR campaign, I'd say Mike Rowe is a pretty good --
CHETRY: That is a good one. That is.
ROMANS: This week, again, we're partnering with CNN Money and "TIME" magazine, digging deeper on America's job hunt. We're going to learn where the jobs are, how to get one, how to keep one. Check out the all-new CNNMoney.com. We're back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Magnets embedded in the road keep the PRTs on course.
ROBBERT LOHMANN, 2GETHERE: So, all we do is we add little magnets to the infrastructure as reference points, but the vehicles, themselves, have a brain of their own.
TUCHMAN: An advanced laser obstacle detection system knows if a pedestrian crosses its path.
LOHMANN: If anybody gets in front of the vehicle, the vehicle will first slow down, and eventually stop.
TUCHMAN: All that's left for the passenger to do is enjoy the ride.
Gary Tuchman, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Forty-seven minutes past the hour. A lot going on this morning. Let's check out the headlines.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY (voice-over): Arnold Schwarzenegger putting two upcoming movie projects on hold to concentrate on his family. His wife, Maria Shriver, has asked for compassion and privacy after Schwarzenegger's public admission that he fathered a child with a long-time household staff member.
The head of the International Monetary Fund on suicide watch at Rikers Island in New York. There are also growing calls for Dominique Strauss-Kahn to resign after a hotel maid says he tried to rape her.
Nine thousand people in Louisiana and Mississippi have now been driven from their homes by the flooding. Floodgates are diverting water from the swollen Mississippi over small towns and farmland to try to spare even bigger, more populated cities down river.
Space Shuttle "Endeavour" docked just about 30 minutes ago at the International Space Station. Among the gear astronauts will unload a particle physics detector which scientists want to use to explore the origins of our universe.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY (on-camera): You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING will be back after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, HOST: Today is Tuesday, May 17th or as Arnold Schwarzenegger calls it, Father's Day!
(LAUGHTER)
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST: In a statement, Arnold said, I am truly sorry. There are no excuses and I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused. Then he said, but enough about "Jingle All the Way," let's talk about --
(LAUGHTER)
LENO: Arnold kept the secret the last ten years. Ten years! Do you realize we found Bin Laden before we found Arnold's love child? How does that happen?!
O'BRIEN: Arnold Schwarzenegger secretly had this child ten years ago. He told his wife, Maria, about it at the time, but it took her this long to figure out what the hell he was saying.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: What?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The TV writers have so much material they probably couldn't choose which jokes to go with.
CHETRY: I know. And, I mean, of course, people getting a laugh at the same time. I mean it's a very, very tough time for the family.
ROMANS: They're badly (ph) hurting, but it's a very public situation. You know, our question of the day for you, what do you think of the way Arnold and Maria Shriver have publicly handled this situation?
CHETRY: Right. And they both handled it, obviously, differently, but we want to know what you think about what's been going on. Alexandria Howard wrote to us on Facebook, "I feel for Maria. I think she's handling it as well as can be expected. I think Arnold is loving it. He's trying to jump start his career and what better than a scandal to get people thinking of you again."
ROMANS: Sara Ann on Facebook said, "They've handled it with a lot more grace than I would have been capable of. Though, I think they should have kept this to themselves. Regardless of what the media and vast majority of the public seem to think, the private lives of celebrities and politicians are just that. Private.
CHETRY: I don't think they had much of a choice in this.
ROMANS: I know. We still don't know about the trigger for why this came out. First in "The Los Angeles Times," but I'm sure more of that will come -- will unfold. One of the other jokes is, you know, part of the Arnold Schwarzenegger statement, that he gave was, I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused. Some people are saying, yes, full responsibility, 12 years later.
CHETRY: Exactly. And that's also strange. New details out today saying that this child is older than -- I mean, they said it was ten years ago, but now, they're saying that the kid is 14.
ROMANS: Right.
CHETRY: So, a little -- couple of questions about the timing as well. But, anyway, we'd like to continue to hear from you. Send us an e- mail, tweet or find us on Facebook, and we'll read some more of your thoughts later.
ROMANS: It is 52 minutes past the hour. Time for a quick check of the morning's weather headlines. That means Jacqui Jeras in the Extreme Weather Center. Good morning, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning, guys. A bit on the dreary side for many people across the northeast and mid-Atlantic states. Once again today, I know it's kind of a broken record, you, guys, are really looking forward to some sunshine. That's going to take place by the weekend, so hang in there. In the meantime, we're going to continue to see these heavy rains as they stream on in.
You can see it across Long Island up in the western parts of Connecticut, and we could see as much as an additional one to three on top of what you already have. Big-time problems at the airports yesterday. We expect a repeat of that today. So, over an hour for New York's metros as well as Boston, D.C., Philadelphia, maybe 30 to 60, Detroit as well as Cleveland are going to see some delays because of low clouds and some wind.
Phoenix is going to be windy there today as well and some wet weather out west causing over an hour delay possible in San Francisco. Stormy conditions across the nation's midsection. This will be late this afternoon. Isolated tornadoes along with some damaging winds will be possible and that cool weather remains out west and getting more snow.
And you know, it's kind of unusual, guys, to get this much snow this late in the season out west. There are some incredible video that we've got for you out of Tahoe. We will get to that next hour.
ROMANS: All right. Jacqui Jeras. Thanks, Jacqui.
You know, they call it something, the walk of shame, and it is an NYPD tradition, the perp walk in New York.
CHETRY: Yes, that's right. And the sight of the world's most powerful -- one of the world's most powerful men, Dominique Strauss- Kahn, taking this perp walk, got people thinking about some of the best perp walks, I guess, if you can say best perp walks ever. Jeanne Moos takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a scene seen by Americans all the time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nicolas, did you strangle your girlfriend?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why did you do it?
MOOS: But you tend not to look innocent, even when no one shouts a single incriminating question. It's what's called --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The perp walk.
MOOS: Perp as in perpetrator. And some in France are outraged over the treatment of the head of the IMF accused of attempted rape. France's former culture minister called it a lynching that provoked horror and aroused disgust.
MOOS (on-camera): French laws bars the media from showing suspects in handcuffs before they're convicted.
MOOS (voice-over): Some say the perp walk goes against the presumption of innocence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is done, probably, some would say to humiliate the suspect, and they give off an aura of guilt.
MOOS: Though, sometimes, the aura doesn't fit the alleged crime from the smiling accused Somali pirate. To the JFK terror plot suspect. Others bend down or cover up to conceal their identity.
MOOS (on-camera): Suspects use anything that's handy, and we do mean anything to hide from the cameras during a perp walk.
MOOS (voice-over): Amy Fisher, the Long Island Lolita used her own hair to keep her face out of sight. The Perp walk is a perennial, always popping up even as cameramen pedaling backwards are falling down and suspects are falling forward. And every once in a while, you get an apparent confession.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something came over me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you regret it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course, I do. No matter what I did, you know, you can't justify that.
MOOS: He's been charged with using an axe to murder a man. Sometimes, a perp walk leads to perpetual cursing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (EXPLETIVE DELETED) get (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of my face. (EXPLETIVE DELETED) I break your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) and smack you (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
MOOS: And finally, there was the armed robbery suspect who managed to escape in mid perp walk. It happened in Staten Island last year. The suspect took off down the street with police in hot pursuit. They recaptured him quickly. Check out how he slipped out of the loose handcuffs to make his break. Now, if only they could cuff this guy's mouth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I kick you in your (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN.
(EXPLETIVE DELETED)
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: It's interesting that no one shouted a question to Dominique Strauss-Kahn. I hadn't noticed that until now, but the perp walk is notorious for as a reporter, you just pepper them with questions.
CHETRY: Right. And they never answer except in the one case of the guy with the axe. Wow.
ROMANS: That was a little disturbing.
All right. This morning top stories just minutes away including the new Osama Bin Laden, al Qaeda choosing its new temporary leader. There are already doubts about how much power he'll have and what kind of pull he'll have with his followers.
CHETRY: You know what it's like to be sitting next to one of these people either on the train or the plane or the subway? He just kept talking, talking, talking, talking for 16 hours in the quiet car?
ROMANS: No. Sixteen hours.
CHETRY: Supposedly until mutiny. We'll tell you what happened. Seventeen minutes -- 57 minutes past the hour. There you go.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
