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Speaker DEBORAH NORVILLE Subjects journalism, media Video Clip

Emmy Award-winning journalist Deborah Norville endured one of the most public and humiliating crises imaginable when she left the "Today" show in 1991 amid accusations that she had driven the beloved Jane Pauley off the air. Many, including Norville herself, predicted that she would never work in television again. Now, after overcoming depression, a weight problem and a nearly complete loss of confidence, she is back as the host of the nation's top-rated syndicated newsmagazine, "Inside Edition." In BACK ON TRACK: How to Straighten Out Your Life When ft Throws You a Curve (Simon & Schuster. Norville speaks for the first time about her disastrous departure from "Today." In addition, she shares the stories of other women facing distress and adversity and offers her own ten-point plan to encourage those in crisis to take the first steps toward recovery.
  
Norville writes, "Five years ago, my career was over. I was out of network television altogether. I was fat I weighed ... well, there are some things that a lady just doesn't ever disclose.... I'd been pilloried in the press as the 'other woman,' called 'hungry as a shark,' and parodied on Saturday Night Live as Eve Harrington from All About Eve.... And yet, fastforward: March 1996. Five years later. I've now got two children, so yummy you could eat them. I'm back in size six skirts. Reasonably in shape. And -- hosting the most successful newsmagazine show in syndication. How did this happen? It's a question that I ask myself with pride. Because I know the answer came from within. I did it myself."
  
One painful day at a time, Norville bounced back from her professional and personal crisis. As she inched toward full recovery, she began to see that she had followed a course which other women could use to face ordeals, including: unemployment, divorce, rape, infertility, cancer, and a child's fife-threatening illness. Ultimately, Norville even found a sense of purpose in her crisis: by writing BACK ON TRACK she could use her experiences to help other women get their lives together again in the wake of failure, tragedy and loss.
 
At the heart of Norville's book is her 10-step plan for re-establishing self-esteem and self-confidence after the experience of personal disaster. The steps are: 

     -- FACING FACTS -- Acknowledge your crisis
     -- STEP BY STEP -- Inching toward a new you
     -- IT'S OKAY TO INHALE -- Get control ... and let go
     -- REACHING OUT -- Finding support
     -- WHAT ABOUT ME? -- Take care of yourself
     -- BUILDING A NEW YOU -- Learn to like yourself
     -- "THE EXPERTS AREN'T-- Trust your gut
     -- WHAT HIT ME? -- Analyze what happened
     -- CHARTING YOUR COURSE - Visualize your future
     -- FINDING A PURPOSE -- Your crisis was for a reason

As she moves through each step of the plan, Norville relates the details of her own crisis, and draws on the inspiring stories of other women to reveal how the process of healing begins. Among the many women she profiles is Jana Stump, a gifted young athlete who wanted to die after she was paralyzed in a car accident, but who eventually won a spot on the U.S. Paralympic team. Now a college student studying journalism she is planning to become a television reporter. Ruth Brody, who believes that she unnecessarily lost a breast to cancer because she was not fully informed about treatment options, has worked to join an advisory committee guiding the direction of breast cancer research. Caye Allen, whose husband was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing, has become more involved than ever in her children's lives and has developed a new appreciation for the preciousness of each day.
  
"And me?," Norville writes. "I'm still here. There's a sort of wicked pleasure in knowing that I am on the screen there, still haunting all those people who thought they'd never see me again. I never thought I'd do it. And looking back on the path that got me here, it still amazes me a bit.... I've no doubt, there are probably a few 'experts' in the press waiting in the wings with a sword to cut my head off. I can already tell you what some will be thinking: Who does she think she is? It's not appropriate for a journalist to write such a personal book. She's stirring up dust piles that have been left alone for years. Well, let 'em talk. I can't worry about them. What I worry about ... is you."
  
Norville has written her book for anyone who is facing or has faced devastating setbacks. Writing about her own rock-bottom experience she assures readers, "You do not have to be depressed if you choose not to be. You are not defeated if you do not wave the white flag. You have within you a huge reservoir of strength and talent and abilities. You have worth. Unless you recognize it first, the world will never see it. I have tried to show you how to tap into that reservoir. I've posed the questions. The answers you give will show you the path you should take toward what will bring peace and contentment to your life.... I have gotten back on track. You can too."
  
The untold story of how one of today's most popular television journalists found herself washed up at the age of thirty-two and struggled to make a triumphant comeback, BACK ON TRACK is also a warm, down-to-earth and practical program for anyone in crisis who wants to move toward renewed self-worth, hope and recovery.
  
Deborah Norville began her broadcast career at the age of nineteen, and six months later, she conducted a live interview with the President of the United States. Prior to hosting "Inside Edition," she worked at CBS News, ABC Radio, NBC News, and local television stations in Chicago and Georgia. The winner of two national Emmys, she has been a contributing editor for McCall's magazine, serves on the Board of Directors of the New York City Council of Girl Scouts, and is on the steering committee for the Rita Hayworth Gala, which benefits Alzheimer's research. 
 
 
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Back On Track:  How to Straighten Out Your Life When It Throws You a Curve

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