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Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ann Curry's Life After the ‘Today' Show: Here's What Happened to the Journalist
For millions of Americans, NBC News journalist was a quintessential part of their daily morning routine. Beginning at 7 a.m., Curry, 68, would serve as news anchor at Today, holding the gig from 1997 to 2011 until she was promoted to coanchor following Meredith Vieira's exit. After barely a year cohosting Today alongside Matt Lauer, Curry left the NBC morning show in 2012. While her exit caused much chatter in the press, the journalist chose not to publicly discuss the departure until many years later. 'During those darkest days, one by one, these wonderful women reached out,' Curry told People in 2018. 'Jane Pauley, Connie Chung, Paula Zahn, Deborah Norville, they took me to lunch, one by one. Meredith wanted dinner. Oprah [Winfrey] called. They all gave me words of wisdom and comfort. All these years later it still resonates — these kindnesses.' The Most Dramatic 'Today' Show Exits Over the Years: Hoda Kotb, Matt Lauer and More Despite leaving Today, Curry stayed with NBC News before announcing her exit from the network in January 2015. At the time, she told fans that she was founding a NBCUniversal-funded media startup with a focus on original reporting and curation of content on the national and global scale. 'In today's world of fragmented media, this is the time to seize the opportunity to improve the way we distribute and even tell stories," she shared in her announcement at the time. "I want to expand my drive to give voice to the voiceless to emerging platforms and produce both scripted and non-scripted content, in addition to continuing to report on-air about stories that matter.' The move was met with support from those close to Curry, who admired her desire to focus on stories around the world that often don't receive the coverage they undeniably deserve. "She was nominated for five Emmys and did well-received segments on climate change, reported on the Central African Republic and interviewed the President of Iran,' a source told Us at the time. 'NBC could have used her more but she's been busy. This new venture is a great use of Ann's talents." The mother of two made her return to TV in 2018 with the PBS docuseries We'll Meet Again. The show captured dramatic reunions of people whose lives crossed at pivotal moments. Since leaving NBC News, Curry has been less active on social media. Her last post on X was a photo of when she met Alexei Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, in November 2024. Before that, she shared a selfie from a polling station in November 2022, confirming she voted in the election. Instagram and Facebook provide a little more access into her private life, as she appears to remain in New York City. In February, she shared a video of her dog enjoying the snow. One month earlier, she documented a disco ball at an establishment in Brooklyn, New York. One thing she hasn't stopped doing is exploring the world. To end 2024, Curry made a trip to Antarctica. In between admiring penguins and islands, Curry's journalism background came out when she documented the changes in icebergs. 'It is summer in Antarctica, but the science remains overwhelming, that humans are causing the melt to accelerate,' she wrote via Facebook in December 2024. 'That means we can slow it down.' A Guide to the 'Today' Show Hosts' Families: Get to Know Their Kids and Spouses With each and every post, Curry is inundated with supportive messages from longtime viewers. 'Miss you on TV being one of the few soft spoken classy, caring kind hearted and intelligent voices,' one user wrote via Facebook. 'Something you did not see often and specially today with all the madness.' Another follower via Instagram wrote, 'You popped up in my Facebook memories, your interview with the Dalai Lama so looked you up. Hope you're doing well. You are a fantastic journalist. Miss you ❤️.'
Daily Mail
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Revealed: The cute nickname Princess Diana used for William – and the hilarious reason behind it, according to Harry
There is no doubt that Princess Diana loved her sons William and Harry very much. And like any adoring mother, she came up with pet names for them – which the princes undoubtedly found terribly embarrassing. In an interview with NBC Today ahead of the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium on July 1, 2007, journalist Matt Lauer asked William about his childhood nickname: Wombat. 'She used to call you "Wombat" which is cute... when you're seven,' the American news personality quipped. 'Yeah,' an 25-year-old William begrudgingly replied. 'I guess you don't want your mates in the pub going, "Hey Wombat, how are you?' Matt said. 'It kind of stuck with me,' William admitted, 'I can't get rid of it now.' The prince went on to reveal that his mother first started referring to him as Wombat during a six-week royal tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1983. Prior to the fundraiser, the brothers had taken part in an interview with Matt Lauer on NBC Today At two years old, William was still at the crawling stage when he flew 10,000 miles across the world to participate in his first major overseas visit. Malcolm Fraser, the Australian Prime Minister at the time, had written to the Prince and Princess of Wales saying that he appreciated the problems facing the young family and invited them to bring the prince along as well. Fraser's considerate gesture enabled the family to lengthen the visit from a four-week trip to a six-week tour of both Australia and New Zealand. 'The first foreign trip we took William to was Australia and New Zealand,' Diana told her biographer Andrew Morton. 'That was for six weeks. 'That was great – we were a family unit and everything was fine. 'It was very tricky, mentally, for me, because the crowds were just something to be believed. 'My husband had never seen crowds like it and I sure as hell hadn't and everyone kept saying it will all quieten down when you've had your first baby, and it never quietened down, never.' During the visit William stayed at Woomargama, a 4,000-yard sheep station in New South Wales, with his nanny Barbara Barnes and assorted security personnel. While his parents could only be with him during the occasional break in an otherwise busy schedule, Diana was happy to know that William was under the same skies. 'The wombat, you know, that's the local animal,' William explained to Lauer decades later ahead of the Concert for Diana. 'So I just basically got called that. 'Not because I look like a wombat. Or maybe I do.' 'You know what it was?' said Harry, jumping at the chance to wind up his older brother. 'He was still crawling at six.' 'He was?' asked Matt. 'He still couldn't walk,' Harry insisted. 'He was still lazy.' Playing along with the brotherly banter, Matt turned to William and said: 'Alright, get him back. What's his nickname?' Without missing a beat, William replied: 'Oh, Ginger. 'Whatever. You can call him whatever you want,' William added. 'Most of them I can't call in front of here. You know, a bit rude. He's got plenty.' 'Ginger?' Matt asked Harry. To which the 21-year-old prince replied: 'I know exactly. You're as surprised as I am. I don't think I'm ginger.' 'Apart from the fact you are,' William interrupted. 'Shall we not?' Harry said in an attempt to end the conversation. 'Let's not.' But William is correct in saying that Harry has 'plenty' of nicknames. In his bombshell memoir Spare, Harry writes that his father and brother refer to him as 'Harold', despite the Duke of Sussex being christened as Henry Charles Albert David. Throughout her Netflix series, Meghan Markle refers to her doting husband as 'H' or 'Haz' while his friends have been known to call him 'Spike'. And during the Channel 5 documentary, William & Harry: Princes at War?, royal expert Robert Jobson divulged that Diana used to refer to her youngest son as 'GKH'. 'She used to refer to Harry as GKH (Good King Harry) because she thought he'd probably be better equipped for the role in the future than William.' The acronym supposedly came to be when a young William confided in his mother that he 'didn't want to be king', and Harry happily offered to take on the role and its responsibilities instead.
