“I was like, ‘Are they forcing you out?’ She’s like, ‘No Craig, I’m OK. I’m leaving,’” he recalled. “I was legit stunned, so much so that after she left, I went back to her dressing room, and I was like, ‘Are you sure you’re OK?’ It takes a certain kind of courage to leave anything when you’re at the height of your game.”

Craig Melvin is stepping into a new role at Today after being part of the morning show family since 2018. After Hoda Kotb announced her departure from Today in September 2024, Melvin was named as the morning show's new coanchor alongside Savannah Guthrie.