Maury Povich has been a fixture on American television for decades.
At the age of 86, with his smile, tan, full head of hair and reliable golf swing, Povich shows few signs of slowing down.
He just launched a podcast, On Par with Maury Povich, after ending his daily tabloid talk show, Maury, in 2022, after a record-setting 31 years.
Throughout the show’s run, he wowed audiences by revealing paternity test results on television, with his iconic catchphrase: ‘You are (not) the father.’
Now, he makes waves in his audio download, with admissions that he and wife, the former news anchor Connie Chung, 78, enjoy ‘sexy Sundays’ together each week.
Speaking with The Daily Mail, the veteran showman said he has a ‘secret’ to health and vitality, but that it’s got nothing to do with whole grains and fresh greens.
‘I am the worst wellness devotee that you can have because I have no special elixir,’ says Povich.
‘I drink my Johnny Walker, Black every evening before dinner, yeah, I eat everything in the world. I don’t have any restrictions.’
Maury wakes daily at 6 a.m., showers, takes vitamins and blood pressure pills and eats three eggs on toast slathered in ‘gobs of French butter.’
When in the couple’s multimillion dollar home in New York City’s The Dakota building, he walks the dog across the street in Central Park.
If he’s at their sprawling estate in Bigfork, Montana, he lets golden retriever Birdie out on her own.
Povich says he gets plenty of rest, falling asleep by 10:30 p.m. each night.
He also admittedly benefits from the ‘luck of the draw’ of good genetics, adding that his dad, Washington Post sports reporter Shirley Povich, wrote his last column the day before he died at 92 years old.
Beyond that, Povich has just ‘one secret’ for staying spry: ‘Don’t lose your curiosity.’
‘That’s the key. Be curious every single day about something, that’s how you prolong your faculties.’
He’s seen people decades younger than him ‘withdraw’ from life and end up in an early grave.
‘That’s the worst road to take,’ he says.
Povich’s vitality was on display in his podcast’s debut show, when he sat down with his wife of 41 years.
Chung, an Emmy-winning broadcast journalist, asked Povich when he ‘feels sexiest.’
He replied that he’s most amorous on Sundays – followed by a revealing pause and some snickering.
Sunday is the day the $80 million power couple reserve in their schedules for alone time.
The sizzling revelation was picked up by The New York Post, TMZ and other outlets.
Povich says he was stunned by how the clip has ‘gone viral’ and made headlines.
But, he insists, he was just telling it straight.
‘I said the first thing that came to my mind, because it’s Sundays with Connie,’ he tells the Daily Mail.
The podcast comes at the tail end of an epic career for the Washington, DC, native, who started out as a radio reporter in the 1960s.
He went on to host Panorama, and news and gossip show A Current Affair.
Back then, he reported on everything from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
In 1991, he switched to daytime television with The Maury Povich Show, telling real-life tales of infidelity, uncontrollable teens and other family squabbles.
He attracted a daily average of 1.2 million viewers in the heyday of tabloid-flavored daytime talk show.
Povich outlived competitors including Oprah Winfrey, Geraldo Rivera, Jenny Jones and Jerry Springer among others.
Though he faced criticism for exploiting his typically blue-collar guests, Povich always defended himself by saying he treated them with warmth and compassion, and offering them a little wisdom.
‘They found my show as a safe place for them to unburden themselves,’ he says.
‘They thought that I was maybe a sensitive member of their family, and that’s why they were comfortable telling their stories, some of them very tragic.’
Switching to podcasts, he says, has been a breath of fresh air.
The new show is a ‘kaleidoscope’ of guests, he adds, from jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. to Pinky Cole, the owner of plant-based burger chain Slutty Vegan.
He launched it ‘for fun,’ with eyes wide open about the crowded marketplace for audio downloads.
And, he says, it’s not about the advertising revenue.
Povich is just glad to move on from the sensational and be able to tell some stories about himself and the people he admires.
‘It’s like I have the handcuffs off,’ he says.
‘The talk show was all about other people’s stories. Today, I can relate to my guests and throw in my own experiences.’
‘I find it revealing,’ he adds. ‘It’s like talking to the shrink. In the podcast, I’m talking to my own shrink.’