Liz Wickersham

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Liz Wickersham was a model and a cable news anchor for CNN.

Liz grew up in Orange, Texas as the daughter of Charlie Wickersham, owner of a local Ford-Lincoln-Mercury automobile dealership. Her father had strong connections with Charles Wilson, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 2nd congressional district. After attending the University of Texas, she moved to Georgia where she became Miss Georgia USA in 1976 and competed in the Miss USA pageant, where she won the Miss Photogenic award and placed in the semi-finals.^[1] She later appeared as the cover model for the April 1981 issue of Playboy magazine.^[2] Shortly after, Ted Turner was formally introduced to her, possibly through the connection with Wilson.^[3] Working with CNN, she interviewed Cuban dictator Fidel Castro at his invitation in 1982, and again two years later.^[4] From 1984 until 2001, she would co-host the CNN program Showbiz Today which featured entertainment industry news (similar to Entertainment Tonight). Wickersham also served as the host for the WTBS program "Good News". Wickersham married attorney Paul Derounian and lives in Manhattan.