Ann Curry and Matt Lauer haven’t spoken in years, beginning with her painful public axing from “Today” right up to Tuesday night’s announcement that she’s leaving NBC News.
Sources say the former co-anchors have maintained a bitterness toward each other since Curry was ousted from “Today” in June 2012.
One NBC insider said, “Ann and Matt never made up after her firing. He believes the way she handled it made him look terrible, while she believes Matt played a major role in her downfall.”
However, other NBC insiders maintain that Lauer did not push to get Curry fired.
Curry confirmed Tuesday night that she’s leaving NBC News for good nearly three years after her tearful departure from “Today.”
Sources tell Page Six — which exclusively broke the news of Curry’s exit Tuesday — that the veteran journalist and anchor had agreed on a deal to leave after weeks of careful negotiations to end her contract, worth a reported $12 million a year.
Curry, 58, who had been at NBC News for 25 years, 15 of those at “Today,” is going out on her own with an NBCUniversal-backed media startup, which will provide programming for a variety of platforms including NBC News.
Her departure comes amid tension that she wasn’t appearing enough on NBC to merit her lucrative contract. One network insider said, “Ann has been unhappy that NBC wasn’t using her enough and NBC News chiefs were frustrated that she had this huge salary while rarely appearing on air.”
Curry has recently filed reports, including one on a woman’s escape from Boko Haram, fronted a climate change special and, in September, interviewed Iranian president Hassan Rouhani. However, she does not appear to have been on-air since Dec. 1.
In a statement Tuesday night, Curry said, “It has been a privilege to work with so many good and talented people at the network … At the same time, I can’t wait to expand my reach and work with people I admire in other places.”