Presents Courtney "Cookie" Hood, Wartime Journalist

The untold story of the woman who broke one of the biggest scandals in U.S. history. The true story of Courtney “Cookie” Hood, former model and ex-wife of a Colombian drug cartel kingpin, hired to manage the CBS/60 Minutes field office in Managua, Nicaragua during the civil war in the ‘80s. What starts as another big party for her, ends up being the history making adventure of a lifetime, blowing the lid off the Iran-Contra scandal and almost taking down the Reagan presidency. JOURNALISTA follows the dangerous and improbable life of Cookie Hood, who teams up with Larry Doyle, legendary wartime drug fueled news producer for CBS and the courageous wartime journalists covering the civil wars, revolutions, and US missteps in Central America. Stephen Kinzer (former bureau chief of the New York Times) writes: “During the 1980s and 1990s, Cookie Hood was the driving force behind the most successful television coverage of Central America that appeared anywhere in the United States.” Cookie is hired by legendary combat journalist, Larry Doyle, who!s willing to break any rule to get the story, putting his career on the line over and over again to find the truth. Using her unique mix of charm, balls, and passion for social justice, to get through checkpoints, into jungle military camps, and the highest levels of government. They are also a clear and present danger to the shadow U.S. government that is using Central America as a right-wing terror experiment in their fight against communism. Cookie and her cohorts are brilliant trainwrecks speeding down a path to self- destruction. At the same time, they might just change the world. LISTEN: here!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Well, we are very excited.Welcome to Women We Love with me,
Ellen Kay, and today we aregoing to introduce you to Courtney Cookie Hood,
former model, ex wife of aColombian drug cartel kingpin. Cookie,
Welcome to Women We Love. Thankyou, Ellen. We're great here in
New Orleans, wonderful city and sohappy to be talking to you. We

(00:24):
are joined by your host of yourpodcast, Journalista, Steven step Stephen.
Welcome, Thank you so much,thanks for having us. Well, this
is a big podcast for iHeart Journalistaand this is the show exploring the life
of you Cookie, a former modelturn journalist who blew the lid off the
Iran Iran contra scandal in the eighties. And we're so honored to have you

(00:49):
on today. Where did you getthis baller attitude that you have? Cookie?
You know what, very easy toexplain. I'm from New Orleans and
you're from New Orleans, and Iknow you know people from New Orleans.
Yes, Wing, we just thinkwe could do anything, and we pretty

(01:11):
much can. Well, let's goback to the beginning. Cookie. You're
half American, half Nicaraguan, bornin New Orleans, raised in both countries,
and your mom's family in Nicaragua,were oligarch So you come from a
lot of money and privilege, andyou saw a lot of stuff at a
very young age, corrupt. Andmy dad was from New Orleans, self

(01:33):
made of airline executives, so itafforded us a lifestyle of travel, you
know, all over the world.So I was exposed to a lot of
things at a very young age,once married to a guy who worked for
Pablo Escobar. So before we getto that, Cookie, we just want

(01:53):
to explain why you're a woman welove. We have talked to astronauts,
c X blorers, surgeons, cancerspecialists, and now you you are a
journalist. So you are journalista,but you're also a survivor and a strong
woman and a mother, and you'veyou know, you've faced firing squads,
You've taken shrapnel. What would yousay to our listeners who need some inspiration

(02:21):
and need answers in their life onhow to stay and be so strong like
you are? Cookie? I thinkthe best piece of advice that I can
give is Mike Wallace told me onceCookie, never be the story, cover
a story, and always feel confidentthat you can do whatever it is you

(02:49):
set your sights on. Doing.There'll be failures, there'll be ups,
they'll be downs. But again,it's this New Orleans attitude that I had
that gave me, I guess,the confidence and the power to just move
forward and conquer any situation that Ifell upon. It. Wow, shot

(03:15):
down in a helicopter bombed at anairport, injured by Mortar Shrapnell working for
CBS News Bureau. How did youand Stephen hook up in the first place?
What was the idea behind this podcast? Journalista? Thirteen years ago,
we were introduced by a mutual friend. That friend had told him my story.
He didn't believe it. We meet, I continue to tell him my

(03:38):
story. He didn't believe it,and he told me, so, says
Cookie, I don't believe any ofthis. It sounds like BS. And
I said, great, meet mehere tomorrow at noon and we'll talk.
And I brought what we now famouslycall the box. And in that box

(04:00):
was everything. I brought all thereceipts to the table, prespasses, pictures,
newspaper articles, books, you nameit. It was in there.
He believes me, and we justsaid, let's run with this. Stephen,
how long did well? It?As soon as I saw what she

(04:21):
had in the box, the receiptsletters from Mike Wallace and Ed Bradley and
all sorts of things like that,also photos with all those people and love
letters and you know, everything youcan think of, and it became obvious
there was something really here. Theother part of it is that now that
I've interviewed so many of the peoplewho were in her life at the time,

(04:43):
everybody back to her story. Soeverything she said is true, and
it's actually even better than what Ithought. It was even more crazy than
what I thought. It was evenmore dangerous than what I thought it was.
Every time Steve and I spoke,I remember more stories and he said
we got to you've getten together,because the stories kept building and building and
building, and then hence journalist wasborn. And my question to you,

(05:10):
Cookie, and I know we've spokenbefore, but I'm just really curious,
how do you go from being marriedto a guy who works for Pablo Escobar
to working at CBS alongside Dan Ratherand he called you his secret weapon in
Central America. You're friends with EdBradley, morally safer my coals. How
does that happen? Ellen, I'llput it to you simply, I went

(05:34):
from one war to another, thedrug life. Being in that drug game
that was a war in and ofitself, and then to jump into CBS
and obviously a war corresponded. Itwas just another war. The names in
the face has changed, the warwas still the same. WHOA can I

(05:57):
walk it back even further than Ellenand asked how you ended up married to
a Columbia drug war. That's agood question, Ryan, that was also
a crazy story. He's the fatherof my son. We grew up together,
We've been best friends since childhood.He just happened to get into that
game and I just happened to bea party girl, and it grew from

(06:20):
there, and then we eventually marriedand had a child. So did you
want out? How was that beingin it? How was that day to
day? Well, at the beginningit was fun obviously the parties, the
money, But then with the years, like any good drug that starts off

(06:44):
being your best friend, it turnson you. And then the danger and
the paranoia and just all of thosethings put together just created a lifestyle that
was at once wonderful and and andfun and just one of a kind.

(07:06):
Lifestyle also had its very very verydark side to it, no kidding.
And then who was the genius atCBS who found you and said we need
you, we need you, weneed you, we need your knowledge,
we need your connections, we wantyou for us. Well, when the

(07:28):
war began, I was still inNew Orleans and I said, what you
know, let me go check outthis revolution. So I did. After
three months, I was a littletired of all the scarcity of everything,
and I said, well, okay, I checked out the revolution. Time
to go. I'll throw myself agoing away party. And at that going

(07:49):
away party, everyone was there.Everyone, politicians, soldiers, rich,
poor, you name, it wasthere. I got approached by someone from
NBC that thought that I looked interesting. She offered me the job to be

(08:09):
a fixer translator at the NBC office. And at the same party, I
was approached by Larry Doyle from CBSNews with the same offer and heat party.
She didn't. I went with thepartier. He said, show up
at the hotel tomorrow morning. You'vegot an interview. Went to the interview

(08:33):
Carla Farrell, who became one ofmy best friends. She said, well,
you know, well, how doyou feel about roadblocks? I said,
I could get in and out ofanything. She said, well,
what's your main asset? I said, I could sleep at the plaza,
just like I could sleep in ashack on coffee beans in the jungle.

(08:54):
She said, you got the job, come in tomorrow morning. Whoa.
And that was it. That wasit? Oh my gosh. And Cookie
and you have made history, breakinga big piece of the Iran Contra scandal
and now your own podcast and we'reyou know, look, you're a movie
and Steve, you know, congratsto you for finding Cookie meeting and then

(09:15):
saying, these stories need to gobeyond this box. This box is cool,
but but Cookie tell it well.And I was also a little hesitant
because I had been for so manydecades being on, you know, out
of the mainstream and laying low becauseof my path. Did you have to

(09:39):
can I interrupt for one second?Did you have to lay low? No?
I just it was it was aforce of it. It was a
habit. Okay, you know,you just stay out of the limelight,
which has always been very difficult forme to do. Steve, are you
like, what are you thinking ona daily basis here with her and your
life? Are you like what youwell? Did I get well, I

(10:03):
can tell you this. It's beenso much fun exploring this, and we've
been working on for so long andgathering the stories and talking to everybody.
And also she the more she talks, the more she remembers. And sometimes
I have like four versions of thesame story and I'm piecing them all together.
But it's so it's been so muchfun. Plus Cookie and I are

(10:26):
now like she calls me her workhusband, I know we finished each other's
shut and says, now nice,totally true. I'm only being quiet here
because it's her day. Yeah.Normally it's back and forth, the shotgun
style. Right. Yeah. SoI've been listening Journalista and cookie Hood and

(10:46):
this is this is so exciting,and you're you are a woman. We
love Cookie because you know, Ilove your attitude that you can, You're
you are, You're resilient, myou are spontaneous and you go with the
flow. And I think more ofus really need more Cookie in our lives
and Ellen. Tomorrow Tuesday drops ourthird episode titled The Ever Elusive War,

(11:11):
and we're going to have a newepisode every Tuesday for the next two months.
This is a weird question, Cookie, I'm looking at a photo Right
now, I think of you ina jungle taking a drink of something.
Do you ever go back? Doyou Have you ever gone back to that
location like where you lived? Well, yeah, because Nicaragua was was all

(11:33):
eight and that was one of thereasons why I was so successful at what
I did there, because I alreadyknew everybody and every place. And uh
yeah, but now obviously there's nowar, but I still go back.
Cookie hoodating single driving for us behindthe most successful television coverage of Central America

(11:56):
that appeared across the US, andeverything happened during that time, and Cookie,
uh, let's keep it going.I mean, you were so happy
to have you on Women We Love. You're like no one we've ever met
before. And I'm so happy thatthe world gets to hear you on Journalista,
new episodes dropping every Tuesday. Um, thank you for your strength,

(12:18):
your great attitude, and Steve,thank you for for bringing her to us,
to the world. Ellen, it'sbeen wonderful. It's been wonderful meeting
you. It's been wonderful talking toyou, and you called me all these
wonderful things, And all I'm gonnasay is that takes one to know one.
Cookie big hugs, guys, ThanksCookie, Thanks, thanks you guys.

(12:41):
We're gonna we're gonna produce it andwe're gonna post it. Um we
post usually on Wednesdays, so we'lledit around that. Just dropping tomorrow part
and just say every Tuesday like I'llpatch it up, Okay. Yeah,
Ellen, you're a doll. Youare. Thanks you guys, thanks again,
and Steve next time. Well,guys, we'll interview you anytime,

(13:07):
anytime I'm here. All right,Thanks bye guys, all right, good bye bye