Dethroned "Queen Of Buzz" Stages Comeback

Sunday Morning: After A Taste Of Failure, Magazine Editor Tina Brown Launches A New Web Site

(CBS) 

"It was a very heartbreaking time," Brown says. "Because you know he was very loyal. But you know, we fell very much in love. And sometimes these things just overwhelm everything."

But not her career. Brown went on to become the editor of a languishing British magazine called Tatler.

"The thing about the Tatler was it was a tiny, little magazine," Brown said. "It was a staff of, like, seven, you know? It was really like - almost like a - like an internet site in a funny way. And I just hired all the kids I knew from college. And we had a great time. So as far as I was concerned, it was just a party, you know?"

Fascinated by glamour and celebrity - Brown recognized the appeal of another striking young, ambitious woman and used it to sell magazines.

"I always felt a great link to Princess Diana," Brown says. "Because she rose to fame at the same time that I was a 25-year-old editor of Tatler Magazine. And so in a way, Tatler's fortunes rose as Diana's fortunes rose.

Brown's fortunes were rising too. At age 30, she moved with Evans, now her husband - to the U.S. to become editor of Vanity Fair. Here, she made headlines with Hollywood royalty, and a splash of shock appeal.

"The Demi Moore cover is one of the great fabulous things we did in journalism," Brown said. "I mean I love that cover."

"At the time I was pregnant. So I was very much feeling that I wanted to showcase women who, proudly were pregnant. Demi took a deep breath and we did it."

Eight years later, Brown took her flair for the dramatic to the staid and scholarly The New Yorker, where she was not welcomed with open arms.

"Here is the literary crown jewels," Brown says. "You can understand why many of the writers were just aghast when they heard I was coming."

They were so aghast that many left, but Brown brought in a fresh crop of young writers.

"I think The New Yorker probably was the happiest time of my life," Brown says. "I left because I am someone who loves new challenges."

Her next challenge was TALK, glossy gossip magazine that Brown started from scratch with the financial backing of larger than life movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. TALK was silenced after just two years.

"I was very, very upset when TALK closed down," Brown says. "I felt betrayed by the situation involved. I felt people involved didn't understand how well we were about to break through. When something fails, you ask yourself why 'Why did I do this to myself? Why did I take this one? Why did I not get it right?'"

So Brown, seeking a safe place, found solace in writing and the subject that once brought her so much success. And last year her "The Diana Chronicles" became a bestseller.

And that gave her the confidence to try once more at doing what she loves best - running a magazine - her webzine, The Daily Beast, went online the first week of October.

"I feel great," Brown says. "I mean, the fact of the matter is I've been through a bad experience and it has strengthened me. And it means that, with this new website, I have not been nearly as anxious as I was when I went to do TALK. Because at that point, I hadn't had a failure. When you don't care as much, somehow it gives you a kind of inner strength."

[longtree-2009]

i need to get out more, or something. never, ever, heard of this tina brown. CBS News correspondent Erin Moriarty needs a new assignment or a new job.

[thisandthat1]

Never heard of her! NEXT story!