CHRISTIANE: Don’t forget also, Lesley, we have one Nobel Laureate in Iran and she’s a woman. The human-rights lawyer, Shirin Ebadi.

LESLEY: And she’s part of this, too, right?

CHRISTIANE: Well, she’s called for annulling the elections and a re-vote, and she’s constantly stood up for human rights, for women’s rights and, you know, when I was working at "60 Minutes" I profiled her and the case – back in 1998 – the very case that garnered her the Nobel Peace prize. So for many years, ten years or more, she’s been lobbying and working for women’s and children’s rights. It’s a very, very strong movement.

LESLEY: I want to come back to Iran. But let me ask you a couple of questions about you, because you’re actually from Iran.

CHRISTIANE: That’s right. My father is Iranian. I was raised in Iran. My mother’s English, but I grew up in Iran, absolutely. And I experienced the first revolution in 1978, and that is what made me want to be a journalist. I was old enough to understand, I could see the drama unfolding around me – it was a personal drama. There were great personal repercussions against my family and many of my friends. But it is what made me want to go into this business.

LESLEY: Tell us about that. Tell us about your family, because as I’ve read, your father was an airline executive and the family had to flee, you were forced to flee.

CHRISTIANE: Well, forced to flee is not exactly accurate. Basically, my father worked in the airlines and – how’s the best diplomatic way to put it? My father’s brother was arrested and eventually we believe he was tortured and killed in prison. We’ve never seen the body, and they’ve never explained it to us. But my parents actually were not forced to leave, but they were forced to live under obviously the revolutionary regime and the change in society and culture of the time. My parents actually left for a vacation in the summer of 1980, with my two younger sisters, and could never go back because as they were going back, Iraq invaded Iran and started the war, and the longer they stayed out the more difficult it was for my father to go back. It was … you know, he was advised not to go back. So they were accidental refugees.

LESLEY: In England, right?

CHRISTIANE: Yes.

LESLEY: But I also read that when you were 11, which was well before that time, you were sent to a convent school in England. Is that right?

CHRISTIANE: Yes, that is right. I did my primary education in Iran and then my mom sent me, and my dad sent me, to boarding school in England. It was quite common amongst more westernized families. I mean, you know, that was a part of my life. I probably, looking back, would have preferred to stay in Iran with my parents, but that’s the way it was.

LESLEY: And I also heard you were quite miserable. Is that true?

CHRISTIANE: I was miserable for a while. It took me a long time. I cried every day for two weeks. I was away from my parents, away from my family. I was 11, quite young. And I did have my grandparents, which was great, but it was weird being in a very strict boarding school after being with your parents and your sisters and your family. I did go back to Iran where my home was and remained until the revolution for every vacation – Christmas, Easter and summer. But it was hard. But I suppose it’s part of what made me independent and, hey, you know, no regrets.