Personal

Born December 26 in 1948 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Crowley spent her early childhood in Missouri. Specifically, her family moved to Kalamazoo from St Louis for a brief period of time, after which they moved back to the St. Louis County suburb of Creve Coeur. By that time, Cady was a toddler. Describing her hometown and neighborhood, she says: "My dad was born here and lived here his whole life, except when we were in Michigan. We lived in Creve Coeur in the ’50s. It was early on—there were ponds and fields and no Interstate 270." Her teen years were spent in New York, attending The Principia School from kindergarten through high school before moving to Randolph Macon Woman's College in Virginia, where she received her Bachelor's degree in English.

Today, the American news anchor working at CNN advocates the vegetarian way of life. She also practices Transcendental Meditation, a specific form of mantra meditation developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, not to mention that she loves swimming and playing bridge. As she admits herself, the number of bridge players has dwindled, so she doesn't play as much now, but thankfully, the swimming is daily. And among all other things, she feels nostalgic about Halloweens and snow days at her home, when she used to go sledding downhill or play hide-and-seek.

After being married for not such a long time – allegedly with Alan Colmes, though, nothing has been officially confirmed – she is now divorced and has two children. Her eldest is a neurosurgeon who very recently married a rheumatologist. At the same time, her younger son is a musician and member of a band that recently put out their first CD and had a great turnout at a New York venue. She also has two stepchildren. The first one (a daughter) still dabbles at being a news producer while her brother lives way too far away in Kansas with his three children.

Profession

Crowley started her career in journalism in Washington DC when she joined WASH, a Metromedia radio station. She served as newsroom assistant there. She also worked for a brief period with Mutual Broadcasting in the capacity of anchor and with Associated Press as the White House correspondent. She then moved to NBC-TV as a general assignment reporter in its Washington Bureau. Finally, she started her career in CNN in 1987, and the rest is pretty much known to the public. What might not be that known is that she was the congressional correspondent at the network before becoming the chief political correspondent. 27 years later, on December 5, 2014, CNN announced Crowley's decision to leave the network. Commenting on her decision, CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker said she did so to "embark on the next chapter of her already prolific career. As difficult as it is for us to imagine CNN without Candy, we know that she comes to this decision thoughtfully, and she has our full support."

"My mixed emotions are these: I am leaving colleagues and viewers who over many years have become dear friends and faithful fans," she said from her side. "But I have for some time wanted to try something new in someplace new. I have several weeks for sad good-byes, but I am eager and excited to begin what comes next. More later."

Now Crowley says that "There are, blessedly, offers" but hasn't made up her mind yet, so it's been a few months that she's absent from TV.

As hard as it may seem to believe that the former CNN news anchor did not always dream of becoming a renowned journalist due to her success. When asked by a fan how did she end up taking that road, Candy answered: "I kicked around Washington for a while after college doing temp jobs but eventually got into the news as a gopher at a small radio station in Washington, DC. I know this doesn't qualify as "the vision thing," but I needed a paycheck. I always wanted to be a writer. I wanted to write the Great American Novel. I also needed to pay rent, eat, and all those other things. Then I had children and was a single Mom. I fell in love with journalism after the fact."

Other notable works of hers include hosting Inside Politics in the shoes of Judy Woodruff and, in February 2010, succeeding John King as an anchor of the Sunday morning political talk show State of the Union.

It's easy to imagine that such a personality more than often enjoys the media's attention for one reason or another. The Los Angeles Times have characterized Alt as a "straight shooter" and her career as "sophisticated political observation, graceful writing, and determined fairness" in that frame.

Awards

Crowley has received numerous awards and recognitions for her extensive reporting and work as a political correspondent. The awards she received include the Maharishi award in 2012, the American News Women's Club Award in 2012, Edward R. Murrow award, Joan Shorenstein award in 2004, Gracie Allen award in 2004, Emmy award in 2003, DuPont Award in 1999, Dirksen award in 1998 and 2003, Associated Press Broadcasters' Award, and the AP award. She also received the Armstrong Award for her documentary 'Freedom is My Woman.'

CNN's senior political correspondent has reported in all the 50 states in the US and several regions worldwide. She has interviewed many high profile personalities in all fields like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Outgoing Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Republican presidential candidates Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann, and many others. She has anchored America's Choice 2012 election reports and played a crucial role in America Votes 2008 at CNN, which won the Peabody award for best coverage.