Diane Dimond

Early life

Dimond was born in Burbank, California, the only child of Ruby and Allen Hughes. The family moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico where her parents owned and operated the Hughes Meat Co. She attended Mark Twain Elementary School and Jefferson Middle School.

Career

While attending Highland High School, Dimond worked as a receptionist at KGGM, a CBS-affiliated television station in Albuquerque. It was there that she became interested in broadcast journalism. She continued to work for the station after graduating from Highland in 1970 and eventually began doing station identifications, on-air promos and writing news copies. While working at KGGM, she met Chuck Dimond. The two later married and had a daughter, Jenna. The couple relocated to Phoenix for a time before moving back to Albuquerque. Dimond then began working at KOB Radio as a reporter where she covered legal and police matters. In 1976, she won a Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association for her investigative news reports about the misappropriation of funds by the Albuquerque Sheriff's Office.

In 1976, she moved to Washington, D.C, where she anchored newscasts for NPR's All Things Considered. From 1980 to 1986, Dimond was a congressional and political correspondent for the RKO Radio Networks. In 1986, she moved to New York City where she was a reporter for WCBS-TV.

While working for the tabloid news show Hard Copy in September 1993, Dimond wrote about accusations of an inappropriate relationship between Michael Jackson and a young boy. She covered the Jackson story for more than a decade, including the second accuser's allegations in 2003 and Jackson's criminal trial in 2005. (He was acquitted of all charges.)

Also while at Hard Copy, Dimond interviewed freelance journalist Victor Gutierrez, who claimed that a new investigation centered on Michael Jackson had begun surrounding a videotape of Jackson molesting a boy. The young boy in question was Jeremy Jackson, the son of Jackson's brother Jermaine. On January 9, 1995, Dimond repeated Gutierrez's claims, while on a KABC-AM morning show, hosted by Roger Barley and Ken Minyard. The allegation was later proven untrue. Jackson subsequently filed a $100 million slander lawsuit against Dimond, Paramount Pictures Corp (producer of Hard Copy), and KABC-AM. The boy's mother, Margaret Maldonaldo, in her book Jackson Family Values denied the allegations, saying, "I’d never met the man [Gutierrez]. There was no tape. Michael never paid me for my silence. He had never molested Jeremy. Period."

It has been spuriously reported that Santa Barbara District Attorney Thomas W. Sneddon Jr., who prosecuted Jackson in 1993 and in his 2005 trial, aided Dimond in evading the suit even though it was filed outside of his jurisdiction.

On CNN's Larry King Live show in 2003, Dimond claimed that Jackson had written love letters to his second accuser, Gavin Arvizo. The letters never materialized.

Dimond worked as a corresponded and anchor for Court TV from 2000 to 2005 and was assigned to Jackson's 2005 trial. Dimond left from Court TV in August 2005 following Jackson's acquittal.

In 2013, Dimond attended Gavin Arvizo's (Jackson's accuser in the 2005 trial) wedding. Also present was retired prosecutor Ron Zonen, who represented the state in the 2005 trial.

Dimond has worked for various NBC outlets, including CNBC, MSNBC, "The Today Show" and "Dateline." She also worked at Court TV and, after the September 11, 2001, attacks anchored news hours on the Fox News Network.

Dimond writes a weekly crime-and-justice column that is syndicated by Creators Syndicate. She is a regular contributing correspondent for CBS's "Entertainment Tonight," the Daily Beast, and Women in Crime Ink.

Books

Dimond's 2005 book about her lengthy Jackson investigation Be Careful Who You Love: Inside the Michael Jackson Case, chronicling her 12 years covering Michael Jackson.

In 2010, she wrote the book Cirque Du Salahi: Be Careful Who You Trust, the story behind Tareq and Michaele Salahi, the so-called White House gate-crashers.

Personal life

Dimond has been married twice. Her first husband was news anchor Chuck Dimond with whom she has a daughter, Jenna. Married in April 1971, the two later divorced. Dimond married broadcast journalist Michael Schoen in January, 1991.