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The Amanpour Hour

Interview with Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry; Interview with Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba; Mass Grave Discovery in Sri Lanka Reopens Old Wounds; Interview with Photographer Annie Leibovitz; Giving Back at Thanksgiving. Aired 11a- 12p ET

Aired November 29, 2025 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:01:01]

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everybody, and welcome to THE AMANPOUR HOUR. Here's where were headed this Thanksgiving weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Moscow, Kyiv and Washington haggle over how to end the war in Ukraine after leaked reports reveal Trump's special envoy coaching Russia on how to get its way with the president. Is this standard diplomacy or a sellout?

JOHN KERRY, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Just plunking something down and giving somebody an -- you know, sort of an ultimatum, you have to decide this by Thursday, not a great way to begin.

AMANPOUR: I discussed with former U.S. Secretary of State and longtime negotiator John Kerry and Ukraine's former foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba.

Then a special report from Sri Lanka: a cry for justice as a painful past is unearthed.

Also ahead photographer to the stars, Annie Leibovitz -- why she's pointing her camera at the world's women with a new book and her emotional reflections on the frame that launched her into the stratosphere -- John and Yoko, just hours before he was assassinated.

ANNIE LEIBOVITZ, PHOTOGRAPHER AND AUTHOR: I promised John that they would both be on the cover.

AMANPOUR: And a very special Thanksgiving dinner as a New York charity exceeds 40 million meals delivered. From my archive, how it got started helping vulnerable AIDS patients.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Welcome to the program, everyone. I'm Christiane Amanpour in London. The president may have pardoned turkeys this Thanksgiving, but could

he be putting Ukraine on the chopping block? We look at all sides of the administration's so-called peace plan to end Russia's nearly 12- year war against Ukraine.

First, we dive into the document that someone must have found so damaging that they leaked it and Bloomberg published it. It showed U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff coaching the Russians on how to get their way with President Trump in a 28-point plan that essentially would amount to Ukraine's surrender.

President Trump has dismissed concerns, though, calling it traditional statecraft.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I haven't heard it, no. But it's a standard thing, you know, because he's got to sell this to Ukraine. He's got to sell Ukraine to Russia. That's what he's -- that's what a dealmaker does.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you're not worried that he's too pro-Russian?

TRUMP: No. I think, look this war could go on for years. And Russia's got a lot more people, a lot more soldiers, you know? So I think if Ukraine can make a deal, it's a good thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: Once again, tilting towards the Russian narrative. And once the leak was out, Moscow started backpedaling. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov saying that only the Putin demands made at this summer's summit with Trump in Alaska would be acceptable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEI LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ((through translator): If the spirit and letter of anchorage are lost in the key understandings we have documented, then of course, the situation will be fundamentally different.

But so far, I repeat, no one has officially communicated anything to us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: As a flurry of emergency shuttle diplomacy takes off to reshape this, we will talk to the former Ukrainian foreign minister and the former U.S. Secretary of State.

So first to John Kerry here in London to receive a special honorary knighthood from King Charles for his efforts to tackle climate change.

But I asked him, is all of this about Ukraine and Russia just normal statecraft? This week has been really dominated by what on earth is the U.S. doing

with us trying to bring a peace to Ukraine but looks heavily tilted according to all the leaks toward Russia.

So, you know, Trump the president said, oh but this is nothing but, you know, normal statecraft.

I want to ask a statesman who has engaged in high-stakes negotiations. Is it? Is it normal?

JOHN KERRY, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I would say this has proven to be fairly normal for how the Trump administration chooses to do its diplomacy.

[11:04:51]

KERRY: I think just plunking something down and giving somebody, you know, sort of an ultimatum, you have to decide this by Thursday, not a great way to begin.

And I hope they're successful. Genuinely, we hugely hope they are successful. This war must end.

But President Putin has a set of very clear objectives. And needless to say, in any kind of treaty or end of war, both sides will not get everything. And you have to find the sweet spot of where you can land so that they're satisfied significantly enough that their people, their countries, will not rebel or feel that they somehow gave away the store.

AMANPOUR: What do you think Putin is getting out of this current administration?

KERRY: Well, I don't think anybody can explain precisely why there appears to be this excessive sensitivity to President Putin.

And I think a lot of people feel that the absence of some of the sanctions which could have been put in place, the absence of some of the, you know, greater pressure on President Putin has changed what you can put on the table and then negotiate about.

Obviously, there are huge implications here for Europe also. You know, Russia continues to promulgate these episodes of invading airspace with drones and testing and, you know, back and forth, playing a dangerous game. And Europe is concerned, as it should be.

AMANPOUR: You talked about the kind of pressure sanctions, et cetera, that should be brought to bear on Putin to make him feel the need to come to a negotiation. I have recently been speaking to the former NATO secretary-general who was secretary-general in 2014 when you were in office.

Jens Stoltenberg has written a memoir, and he's very clear that he regrets that the United States, Europe, et cetera, didn't put enough pressure, whether it was sanctions or military aid to Ukraine on Putin after the annexation of Crimea and the first invasion of the little green men into eastern Ukraine.

Do you accept that in retrospect that you should have done much more then?

KERRY: I think it is so easy to sit here and see a situation where a number of years later something happens and you say, oh, gosh, why didn't we do this or that then?

But I remember very clearly, as does President Obama and everybody in that administration, that we were trying, there was an initial stage where already what had been happening in Donbas and Luhansk had been exacerbated and these, quote, "little green men" were running around in you know, nameless uniforms.

AMANPOUR: Otherwise known as Russian troops.

KERRY: Otherwise known as Russian troops.

But because of a very different history with Crimea, and at that point, only a beginning of this process of understanding Putin's full ambitions, sanctions were immediately put in place.

I think there was -- you know, as the initial evaluation of this new tactic was being done, there was some consideration to how do you put pressure, but not start World War III.

AMANPOUR: Right. That's what -- that's what -- everybody's saying, including Biden and then Trump and everybody. To be fair, Trump likes --

KERRY: Well, it's very real.

AMANPOUR: I know.

KERRY: To be fair, it's very real.

Now, that said, everybody now understands exactly what the game plan is. Everybody understands the danger of that game plan.

I think one has to be tougher. I think you have to make it crystal clear. He thinks he's going to win. He thinks he is winning. And that equation has to be changed if you're going to get the full measure of what you want.

That's why I think members of the United States Senate, Republican and Democrat, are increasingly concerned about the direction this may be taking.

You know, the old saying, no peace at any cost. No. And you have to be certain that the long-term interests for real peace that can be held onto may take a little longer and may take a little more pain.

AMANPOUR: Now, you've got the Pentagon investigating Senator Mark Kelly over, quote, "serious allegations of misconduct" after he also said in the video that American troops can refuse illegal orders. So I'm asking you, not as former secretary of State, but as America's most famous Vietnam vet who, you know, are known for having explained to the Congress and everybody why their war in Vietnam was going wrong. What do you say to people like Mark Kelly and the others, or even to the Pentagon?

KERRY: I think this singling out of people and suggesting you're going to bring them back and put them into, you know, service again for the sole purpose of then trying them or court martialing them is -- I think its un-American.

[11:09:50]

KERRY: I think it is not in keeping with the spirit with which American citizens join the military and go in and serve their country and such a distinguished career from so many of these folks. And then you turn around and start threatening them with court martial and with death for sedition that, you know, it's just -- it's really hard to watch, and it's very sad for our country and I think for the military to have this kind of dissension and leadership.

And it's quite extraordinary to have a Secretary of Defense whose service is not that long and -- long and strong, I didn't think it was.

(CROSSTALK)

AMANPOUR: Major Hegseth, you're talking about.

KERRY: I'm just talking about not having somebody there. And all of a sudden, you're concerned about people who are fat, and you're addressing people who fought for their country, who have served, you know, unbelievably, high qualified service with four stars on their shoulders.

There's something really disturbing about that. And my hope is that that'll stop or that maybe the commander-in-chief will join in and set an example.

AMANPOUR: Secretary Kerry, thank you very much for being with us.

KERRY: Thank you. Appreciate it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Coming up next, Kyiv's reaction to the Trump peace plan. I asked the former Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, about the U.S. proposal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DMYTRO KULEBA, FORMER UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it's probably a duck. So if it looks like a Russian ultimatum, then probably it is. It comes from Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP) AMANPOUR: Also ahead, the photographer capturing women across time. The legendary Annie Leibovitz on her new book, "The Liberation Of Michelle Obama" and poignant memories of that John and Yoko image and taking Timothee Chalamet to the stars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEIBOVITZ: Honestly, it was the hardest thing I've ever done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:11:50]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back to the program.

As we discuss the U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff's leaked 28-point plan to end Russia's war on Ukraine, simply shows the Trump administration tilting towards Putin, again instead of pressuring him financially and militarily to stop his illegal war.

And the terms are shocking, taking almost all sovereign rights away from Kyiv and even demanding territory that Russia hasn't even been able to capture.

While it's clear Russia is making some gains on the battlefield and it will take compromise, of course, to get to peace, Witkoff is headed to see Putin in Moscow again.

So I asked about the view from Kyiv with Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's foreign minister, until just last year.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: I want to ask you, Foreign Minister, about these leaked transcripts that Bloomberg has published. And I particularly want to just, pray see that in one of them, Steve Witkoff, the president's special envoy, is talking to Yuri Ushakov, President Putin's special aide, in which he appears to be coaching him on how to get Putin to call President Trump and how best to make that call go apparently, to get the maximalist stuff that the Russians can get out of it.

So, this is another part of the conversation. I'm going to read it to you. We've got it on the screen. So, this is Steve Witkoff.

He's now saying, "Now me to you," in other words, this is Steve Witkoff talking directly to Yuri Ushakov.

"I know what it's going to take to get a peace deal done, Donetsk and maybe a land swap somewhere. But I'm saying, instead of talking like that, let's talk more hopefully, because I think we're going to get a deal here. And I think, Yuri, the president will give me a lot of space and discretion to get the deal.

And here's one more thing. Zelenskyy is coming to the White House on Friday."

"I know that," Yuri Ushakov laughs.

"I will go to that meeting," says Witkoff, "because they want me there. But I think if possible, we have the call with your boss before that Friday meeting."

Yuri says, "Before, before? Yes."

Witkoff says, "Correct."

Now, I don't know what you make of that, but that is the envoy telling Putin's envoy the parameters of the peace. It's not even the president, it's the envoy is doing that.

And as we know, there is a sort of feeling abroad that Trump listens to the last person in his ear. And so, apparently the last person he talked to before meeting Zelenskyy in late October was Putin. And it was about the Tomahawks that the president was floating, selling to Zelenskyy.

After that meeting, and apparently after having a call with Putin, no more Tomahawks. So, how do you -- is that how you see that?

KULEBA: You're right. The real compromising part of this conversation is when -- is where Steven Witkoff suggests to Yuri Ushakov that Putin calls Trump because Zelenskyy is coming to Washington.

So, we should have no illusions. Of course, the Russian intelligence knew -- was aware that Zelenskyy was coming.

And in -- like in a different world of diplomacy, it was -- it would have been Russia who had to initiate a call between Putin and Trump.

[11:19:50]

KULEBA: But they are lucky because they have Steven Witkoff on the other side who actually comes up with his own idea, with exactly the same proposal, in order to effectively make an impact on the way the meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy would go.

So, for me, from the diplomatic experience perspective, this episode just reaffirms how strongly Mr. Witkoff is trying to help Russia in the effort to end the war and influence the flow of events inside Trump's team.

AMANPOUR: Here's another leak from a separate call, Mr. Kuleba, between Yuri Ushakov, who we were talking about, and Kirill Dmitriev, another very close Putin ally who's also apparently very close to Witkoff.

This is Ushakov. "Well, we need the maximum, don't you think? What do you think? Otherwise, what's the point of passing anything on?"

Dmitriev. "No, look, I think we'll just make this paper from our position and I'll informally pass it along, making it clear that it's all informal. And I'll let them do like their own.

But I don't think they'll take exactly our version, but at least it'll be as close to it as possible."

Well, what do you make of that?

KULEBA: That 28-point plan is a list of Russian ultimatums blended with American ideas on how to make these ultimatums look better than they actually are.

I don't think it's a revelation to anyone that just copy-pasting Russian ultimatums as it was done once again clearly tells you where all this comes from.

You know, if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it's probably a duck.

AMANPOUR: Right.

KULEBA: So, if it looks like a Russian ultimatum then probably it is, it comes from Russia.

AMANPOUR: Yes, the problem is that it's being spoken about by the U.S., which are meant to be, a, Ukraine's strongest ally, and b, honest brokers.

So, my question to you is this. You know, a, should Witkoff recuse himself? And b, do you still think the U.S. has a semblance of your back? Clearly, we know the problems because they've been displayed for global audiences to see between Trump and Zelenskyy.

But then things seem to get a little bit more reasonable, and now it seems to be going off the tracks again.

As Zelenskyy said, when all of this was leaked, we have to make a really difficult decision between our dignity and between a strong ally. He didn't say the U.S. -- between the support of a strong ally.

So, where do you think that balance is right now?

KULEBA: The time when President Zelenskyy said those words is centuries ago compared to where we are now. And this leak is a turning point.

Because, you know, it's important to analyze what is in it.

But the most important question is this. So, someone is tapping the phones of senior officials. Most probably it was Ushakov's phone because he appears in both conversations while his interlocutors are different.

Anyone from the intelligence service will tell you that if you're tapping someone, you know, stay silent. Don't let him know that you're doing that.

So, yesterday, someone, and we don't know who is doing that, but the one who was tapping Ushakov's phone found the situation so consequential that he decided that it's worth exposing the risk -- the threat of the situation is worth exposing the tapping.

So, the situation is completely different now. And I think we can bury the 28-point plan because it's discredited, because nothing -- it's very hard to imagine how you can actually move on from here now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: And in a moment. A forgotten, deadly conflict back in the spotlight with the remains of more than 150 people, including infants, unearthed in Sri Lanka.

[11:24:03]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back to the program.

We now turn to Sri Lanka and the painful wounds of a decades-long civil war. A mass grave site has been uncovered in the north, which has revealed the skeletal remains of hundreds of people, including infants.

The discovery is reviving ugly memories and grief amongst the ethnic Tamil minority, who have waited years for answers about relatives who disappeared during the brutal fighting. Tens of thousands of civilians died, mostly Tamils, in the war between these separatist rebels and the Sinhalese Buddhist-led government.

Now the excavation is seen as a litmus test for Sri Lankas new government, which has promised reconciliation and justice for wartime atrocities.

CNN's Hanako Montgomery has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANAKO MONTGOMRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The earth in Sri Lanka is surrendering its secrets that something very sinister once happened here.

[11:29:44]

MONTGOMERY: At a newly-found mass grave, excavators have dug out skeleton after skeleton, at least 240 so far. Among them a child's schoolbag, a baby's remains.

Even in death, these skeletons speak of a brutal civil war that left tens of thousands missing. Among them is Sivapatham Elankothai's daughter.

SIVAPATHAM ELANGKOTHAI, LOST HER FAMILY IN THE CIVIL WAR (through translator): When I hear a knock at the door, I think it's my child. If you're a parent, you'd know our pain. Every sound I think it's them returning. MONTGOMERY: Her son-in-law vanished too, along with her three

grandchildren. The youngest, seven months old. Kidnapped by Sri Lankan soldiers, she says, and never seen again.

ELANGKOTHAI: How many years have we been tormented by this? Look what's happened. My children. My country got ruined.

MONTGOMERY: For 26 years, Sri Lanka was torn apart by war fought between government forces and the Tamil Tigers, rebels who fought for an independent homeland in the north and east.

The conflict ended in 2009, with the Tigers defeated and accusations of atrocities from both sides. It left hundreds of thousands dead, raped or forcefully disappeared, many of them Tamils, an ethnic minority that suffered the most violence.

Families of the missing have long accused the Sri Lankan army of abducting and killing their loved ones, then dumping the evidence in mass graves like Chemmani.

The courts, alongside an independent national body, are investigating these alleged war crimes. The Sri Lankan government did not provide CNN with a comment, but speaking at a recent U.N. committee meeting on these enforced disappearances, the head of the Sri Lankan delegation acknowledged the questions raised about the Chemmani mass grave site.

HARSHANA NANAYAKKARA, SRI LANKAN JUSTICE MINISTER: All investigations are done with judicial oversight and everything is recorded in court.

MONTGOMERY: The families and the U.N. say the probes lack transparency and demand international oversight.

Mary Ranjani Nirmalanathan has lived this pain twice. Her husband, a translator for the army, disappeared in 1990. He left for work one day and never came home. Nirmalanathan says she searched for him for years, the army insisting he was still alive, a hope she clings to desperately.

MARY RANJINI NIRMALANATHAN, LOST HER FAMILY IN THE CIVIL WAR (through translator): At least he is alive there. Someday he will come back to me.

MONTGOMERY: But in 2009, her son disappeared too, she says. On the very day he got his passport, his way out.

NIRMALANATHAN: My God, they took my son away. They took him in broad daylight. How can a mother watch this? How can she bear? Only a mother knows this pain.

MONTGOMERY: In Chemmani, the digging goes on. Each bone unearthed another tear in an old wound.

Justice for these families has never arrived. But still they cling on to the fragile hope that their loved ones are not among the nameless below.

Hanako Montgomery, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Now the war ended 16 years ago, but this is another example of the vital need for justice anywhere in order to cement any peace and reconciliation everywhere.

Coming up, one of the world's greatest photographers, Annie Leibovitz, with her latest book on women. That's after the break.

[11:33:34]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back.

Now, she is a master of portraiture and she has shot just about every American political, sports and cultural personality over the past five decades.

The celebrated photographer Annie Leibovitz is known for her intimate and yet bold and provocative images. Leibovitz's late partner and the prolific writer Susan Sontag gave her the idea to put it all together in a photo book, that was back in 1999, called "Women", showcasing over 100 of them from all walks of life.

Now, 25 years later, Leibovitz has a second volume featuring striking images, including the feminist trailblazer Gloria Steinem, the writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and even full disclosure, me.

And Leibovitz joined me here in London to tell me why one volume just wasn't enough.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEIBOVITZ: I've had to learn how to talk about this -- this work but, we basically, you know, men have their stories. We don't have enough stories as women. We need to see ourselves.

This collection now is really a set of simple, good pictures of women from the last five or ten years. And since this time and that -- and that we could not have done this book in 1999.

AMANPOUR: What about Michelle Obama? I just thought that picture was phenomenal. She's always been an icon, but this is quite something. How different to the portrait you made for the cover of Vogue, for instance, when they first got in?

LEIBOVITZ: No, no, no, we shot many, many times.

AMANPOUR: Yes, I know.

LEIBOVITZ: And the very last one, she was just -- it was so painful. I could tell that she was -- couldn't wait to get out of there on some level.

And so, I asked her, she was one of the first -- I mean, I didn't do too many new shoots for this second --

[11:39:49]

AMANPOUR: But this is a new one, the Obama one.

LEIBOVITZ: This is brand-new.

AMANPOUR: Yes, yes. It's brilliant.

LEIBOVITZ: And I asked her if she would sit and, you know, she agreed right away. And then we got a call from her office saying, can Michelle Obama wear jeans? And I said, sure, you know. And then she showed up.

But what's interesting about the little clip that she puts on her little, you know, Instagram is that you see her preparing to get into that moment and they actually have her, you know, putting her head back like that.

And honestly, you know, I've said this before, but her assistant was standing next to me and she said, "there's my first lady". And I was like --

AMANPOUR: I have to ask you because it is such an extraordinary picture and it does define a lot of your oeuvre. And that is the John and Yoko.

LEIBOVITZ: Yes.

AMANPOUR: You know, tell me about that because he was naked. She wasn't. And of course, it was taken a few hours before he was assassinated.

LEIBOVITZ: I still have an emotional image to me because it changes with time. I mean, especially like after he died -- after he was killed, you know, and then some time passed, you look at it and you see, it really is -- it turns from a story of love to a goodbye.

You know, so that's interesting about photography, how over time the stories sort of change in the imagery.

In my youth, starting to work for "Rolling Stone", I had talked Jann Wenner into letting me go and photograph John Lennon in New York when he was doing the interviews.

And, you know, I flew youth fair and stayed with friends and John and Yoko couldn't have been nicer. They were very warm. They were just -- it turned out -- Yoko told me later that they were so surprised that Jann picked an unknown photographer, you know, to come and take their picture. That's why they were so, so nice.

But it really set the bar for me as far as, you know, how people should treat each other during these shoots, no matter who they were, because I, of course, admire him so much.

So, it was over 10 years and we were -- "Rolling Stone" was doing a cover. I was told before I went out to shoot that day that they really just wanted a picture of John by himself.

You know, I went over to see them at the Dakota and I -- you know, I say to John, hey, they really just want me to shoot you. You know, it's like he said, well, we're going to have to do something really, really good. We're going to have to do something special.

I didn't know it would be what it was, but she kept her clothes on and John's nude and he's clinging to her. And we pulled the Polaroid. And John looked at it and he said, oh, that's really my relationship. That's really -- he was very happy with it. And so, we took several more frames.

And then, you know, I went away and I got a call from Jann that night and he said that, you know, John was shot. So -- sorry. So, we -- so I went over to the hospital and waited to hear a final, you know, result that he had been killed.

But I went into -- you know, to "Rolling Stone's" offices a day or two later and they were mocking up a single picture of his head. And, you know, and I went into Jann's office. I said, Jann, I promised John that they would both be on the cover. So -- and he did, he changed it. He changed it to both of them on the cover.

AMANPOUR: And it wouldn't have been half as good had it not been the two of them, right?

LEIBOVITZ: No.

And it didn't take long. I mean, it wasn't belabored, we just did a few frames. And so, I think I've always been on the side of the subject, you know, I mean, I'm like -- that's why I'm a bad journalist.

AMANPOUR: Timothee Chalamet, why has that caused such a hullabaloo?

LEIBOVITZ: I don't know.

AMANPOUR: The one on the photo Vogue.

LEIBOVITZ: I had breakfast with Anna and I said --

AMANPOUR: Anna Wintour.

LEIBOVITZ: Anna Wintour, you know, and I said -- she said, I love the cover. I love the pictures. I don't read anything. We're just going forward.

Timothee Chalamet was amazing. He -- you know, when we talked before we started working, he said, I'll do anything you want to do. Let's do it. And I thought he looked so intelligent and so interesting in this kind of -- and I chose the city.

AMANPOUR: So, we're talking about this art city in the Nevada desert.

LEIBOVITZ: Right. Michael Heizer. And it was -- honestly, it was the hardest thing I've ever done because Michael said, no, I don't want anyone wearing Gucci shoes in front of something I've worked 50 years on.

[11:44:50]

LEIBOVITZ: I was trying to not hurt the city or Michael Heizer's work and I was trying to be -- to work with Timothee and come up with something that was really different, you know, and interesting.

And he was totally -- he was amazing. Because it was like 110 degrees. No -- there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I mean, it was really, really hard.

But I love what we finally did. I went back a couple more times. I'm proud of the work, actually. I'm really proud of the work. It's so different. And I love Anna for just doing something totally -- you know, I mean, I --

AMANPOUR: Out of this world.

LEIBOVITZ: Yes, out of this world. And you know, Timothee was supposed to be the little prince, but I couldn't really tell him he was a little prince.

And I let all the fashion go in on the cover. And the inside was kind of very low-key if not no fashion. It was just -- it was really kind of an experiment, you know, of sorts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: And that shoot, of course, was the water cooler conversation for a long, long time.

Now, coming up, this Thanksgiving we count our blessings, including the countless volunteers who head out to spread cheer and a hot meal. From my archive -- how God's Love We Deliver started in New York amid a massive social crisis and is still going gangbusters.

[11:46:17]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back to the program.

Now, across the United States and Americans abroad, everybody wants to try to give back this Thanksgiving. This weekend, thousands upon thousands of people are volunteering at a time when too many vulnerable people have been abandoned by their governments and feel left behind.

In New York, the organization God's Love We Deliver is celebrating its 40th anniversary, sending out medically-tailored Thanksgiving meals for people who are too sick to shop or cook for themselves.

From my archive, when I jumped on board the charity's meal train, then in its infancy in 1988, at a time of desperate need as people struggled to survive the AIDS epidemic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: For the past several days, an army of volunteers has been baking and chopping and stirring things up for Thanksgiving.

But this is not just another day in the kitchen for these cooks. They belong to an organization called God's Love We deliver. and they plan to deliver food and company to people with AIDS who are homebound, people who otherwise would spend Thanksgiving hungry and alone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So there is a sadness too. But the other side of the coin is all the goodness and all the love, the compassion.

AMANPOUR: Compassion that comes from about 200 volunteers to some 300 people with AIDS like Mary Diaz.

MARY DIAZ: I love them, I love them because they have helped me out so much. You know, I would actually starve.

AMANPOUR: Although the group goes the extra mile on holidays, providing cards and beautifully-wrapped hampers of food, they actually feed their clients all year round. It began as a one-woman effort two years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw a young man who had AIDS in the late stages, and he was bedridden and he had no money for food. And his situation really moved me very much.

AMANPOUR: Two years later, the organization relies almost entirely on private contributions, although it is seeking more public funding.

The program's motto is "No homebound person with AIDS will go hungry." It hopes to go national. It already has reached Washington, D.C., where it's called Meals on Wheels because there isn't enough money yet for transportation.

Here in New York. The volunteers deliver their food in vans, taking it to tenements in some of the city's poorest neighborhoods.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's beautiful. Yes.

AMANPOUR: Too sick to leave her apartment, Mary Diaz has come to rely on the help she is getting. As she unwraps her gifts, she says she has plenty to be thankful for.

DIAZ: I got food for me and my kids, and I'm still alive to be with them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: And it is great to remember that spirit of community and compassion, and know that it still is alive.

Now, when we come back, Sir John Kerry? As the American receives one of Britains highest honors, he tells me what happened behind closed doors when he was knighted by King Charles III.

[11:53:45]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: And finally, an American in London. A little more of our conversation with veteran diplomat John Kerry, who for all his dedication towards tackling the climate crisis, has been named an honorary knight. No, he won't be Sir John Kerry. He'll still be Secretary Kerry, as that title is reserved for citizens of the Commonwealth.

Here's what he told me about the ceremony.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: You're here to receive an amazing honor from King Charles for the amazing work that you have done on the climate and on negotiating, certainly, the Paris Climate Accord and all the work you've done as climate czar for President Biden, et cetera.

Just tell me about it. What was it like? What does it mean to you?

KERRY: Well, it was very, very, very meaningful, very special moment at Buckingham Palace with my family. And the king could not have been more gracious and thoughtful.

He was very funny in the terms of my kids who had a little conversation with him. And it was really just a very special moment. I'm very grateful to his majesty for the honor.

But equally, I am grateful for his majesty's leadership and vision that he has never stopped expressing.

[11:59:44]

KERRY: And I think more important than ever now is folks who are willing to still stand up and say, wait a minute, folks, this is not a matter of politics, not a matter of ideology, it's a law of physics. And the physics are telling us you better respond to the challenge.

And his majesty is determined to keep working and working and doing it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: And imagine if the U.S. government kept working as well.

That's all we have time for. Don't forget, you can find all of our shows online as podcasts at CNN.com and on all other major platforms.

I'm Christiane Amanpour in London. Thank you for watching and I'll see you again next week.