Maury Povich has no regrets about his eponymous ’90s talk show’s “Who’s Daddy?” segment.
“It’s become part of the culture,” he told Page Six in a recent exclusive interview about the corner and his famous line, “You’re not the father.” He added, “I had no regrets during the show.”
The “Maury” show, which aired from 1991 to 1998, became famous for its segments in which men seeking to establish or deny paternity undergo DNA tests and the results are revealed on air.
Mr. Povich, 87, said he sees a silver lining amidst the often tumultuous areas.
“I think we’ve basically helped a lot of kids move back into families with two parents instead of one,” he said. “Statistics say that when a child has two parents in their life, they have a better chance of success…so I threw my hat in to that. That’s what I was trying to do.”
The former TV presenter has come out of retirement to host a new AI event. The live recording, which took place in April and was sponsored by AI company Air, featured Povich trying to mediate a messy love triangle between two friends and an AI-generated girlfriend.
Povich said he has no qualms about artificial intelligence.
“I’m not scared at all,” he said. “My son-in-law is a medical oncologist, and he told me that AI is going to make everyone healthier for many years more than they ever thought possible, and that’s the biggest boon for medicine.”
“In that sense, I’m very excited,” he added.
Povich, one of the producers of his highly successful syndicated show, said he is grateful for his success.
“I’m very lucky,” he said. “I was a news reporter for the first 25 years, so I didn’t think I was going to make a lot of money on TV. I didn’t make a lot of money there. So I was happy to be in it. I was happy to be in it. I was happy to be able to spend the second half of my life doing well.”
Povich remembers what he did with his first big paycheck.
“My father was always worried that money would burn a hole in my pocket, even though I didn’t have any money,” he explained, referencing legendary sportswriter Shirley Povich. “So one of the things I did was send a plane so he could go to his hometown of Bar Harbor, Maine.
“And when he got on the plane and picked me up in New York, he looked at me and said, ‘I’m not going to worry about you anymore.’
