Povich also shared how the business endeavor transpired.
Maury Povich struck ratings gold with paternity tests on his long-running daytime TV talk show. He's now taking the direct-to-consumer route and launching an at-home paternity test aptly dubbed "The Results Are In."
Speaking to TMZ, the 84-year-old TV personality said partnering up with DNA Diagnostic Center (DDC) made perfect sense considering his connection to the company for more than 20 years. DDC was the company that performed the paternity tests on his eponymous talk show. Given their long history, Povich says it's why his business manager came to him with the idea.
"He says, 'You know, I have an idea.' What? ‘You are so well known about paternity testing and we have talked to the DNA Diagnostic Center, DDC, which is the company that ran all of our DNA tests for over 20 years," Povich said. "I mean thousands, upon thousands of tests; 99.9 percent accurate. We can do a home paternity test, send those tests to the DNA diagnostics center -- the same company -- and within two or three days they can have a result and send it back and it’s all done from your home. And I said, ‘I’m in.’"
Povich says he's "in" because paternity tests essentially defined his show.
"I've been around paternity testing for more than 20 years, so I know exactly what's going on and how we can help those people who are looking for fathers," he said.
Povich, who retired from Maury after three decades on the air and has been married to the venerable journalist Connie Chung since 1984, spoke to ET in 2019 about being a “titan” or rather a “survivor” of the daytime television market, and how he found talk show gold with one question, “Who's the daddy?”
"They said, 'We have this idea. We want to do paternity tests, and we can have a result within 10 or 12 minutes,'" Povich recalled. "And the audience, all they're looking for is a result. You build that up with the drama."
Povich launched his show in 1991, airing 31 seasons and more than 2,000 episodes. The job was quite cushy. He'd eventually work only two days a week and rake in $13 million a year.
In 2015, Povich sat down for a Reddit Ask Me Anything and recalled the most memorable thing that ever happened on Maury.
"It's happened twice. A woman accused a guy of being the father of her twins," Povich wrote. "When I opened the envelope -- and I don't know the answers before anybody else does -- he was the father of one of the twins, but not the other. And they were fraternal twins. And science says that's a million-to-one shot, that there could be two fathers of twins...So the million-to-one shot has come in twice. And that’s the most surprised I ever was."
By the way, there's only one downside to Povich's at-home paternity test, and it's that the man himself won't deliver the iconic phrases -- "You ARE the father" and "You are NOT the father" -- after the results are in.
Pun intended.
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