Why Hall wanted a boost

"Outed" in Robert Feder's media column Wednesday, Tamron Hall reluctantly found herself on the hot seat. Even I had to wonder how she felt about her breast boost being a news topic and why a woman as drop-dead gorgeous as she is would want a breast lift. (I've met her and haven't been able to find a flaw yet.)

Her answer: She wanted her clothes to fit better. And they do.

"It was not born of a breakup or feeling inadequate," Hall said. "I work hard every day; it was my 36th birthday. I don't want to give a description of my body, but any woman in her 30s knows what I'm talking about. I don't need to connect the dots." (For the record, more than 300,000 other women get the same procedure every year, says the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.)

"I want to know why every man on TV who has hair plugs or a toupee or a fake tan, or who has gotten a nip and tuck here and there, why that's not discussed," said Hall, who had the surgery this past summer. [Feder also has written about Chuck Goudie's hair color and the late Tim Weigel's toupee.]

"I'm not overly sensitive. This is just a non-news event where there are things I have done that can help other people [which go unmentioned]."

What things? Try helping to build a Sunday school classroom for the kids at New Orleans' Carrollton Avenue Church of Christ who hadn't been to services since Katrina hit; Hall did that in September.

"It makes me sick to my stomach that [beauty] is always brought up when myself and other women in the news media are in the grind every day to be the first on stories, to be the best on stories," Hall said.

As for her head-turning good looks, thank her parents: Tamron says she had nothing to do with that.

OK. We can stop talking about this now.

Deborah Douglas, deputy features editor