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Tag: matt lauer

  • Hannah Davis Doesn’t Think Revealing Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Cover Shot is Too Risqué

    Hannah Davis doesn’t think her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2015 Issue cover shot is all that risqué as some have complained.

    During an appearance with Matt Lauer on Today Monday, Hannah Davis said that her cover, which shows her pulling her bikini bottom down to a level dangerously close to revealing too much of her anatomy, is not all that bad.

    On several occasions over the past few days, Today covered up the bikini area of the photo to protect viewers eyes.

    “Were we being prudent or just prudes, what’s your opinion?” Lauer asked the model.

    “Well, I think you’re making it look a lot naughtier than it really is, to be honest,” Hannah Davis said.

    “I think Sports Illustrated always tried to do something a little different every year and I think this year it’s the year of the torso,” she explained.

    Seems like that’s the theme every year, but I digress.

    Hannah Davis told Lauer that it was an “overwhelming moment” when she learned that she would be featured on the cover.

    “The editor of Sports Illustrated came in with this cover and, yes, as you can see I was crying,” she recalled as the morning show showed a clip of the moment when she got the good news. “I was so blindsided by the whole thing.”

    Lauer asked what her longtime boyfriend Derek Jeter thought about the cover.

    “Um, I think everyone was really excited for me. My family and friends, they all flew in and threw me a surprise party, so…it’s nice to celebrate with everyone,” she said, without mentioning Jeter by name.

    She also appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and explained her excitement about getting the coveted cover. Check out the interview:

  • Savannah Guthrie: Three More Years at ‘Today,’ and Interview With President Obama

    Savannah Guthrie can honestly say that 2015 is off to an excellent start. Earlier in January her contract as Matt Lauer’s co-anchor at the Today show was extended for three more years. And next week–on Super Bowl Sunday–she’ll conduct her first interview with President Obama during the pre-game show.

    On the two days leading up to the Super Bowl, Savannah Guthrie, along with Today show colleague Al Roker, will host the show from from Block 23 in Phoenix, Arizona. NBC will begin coverage of the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 1st at noon. The game begins at 6:30 PM ET.

    President Obama is expected to talk with Guthrie about his “State of the Union address, the growing threat of ISIS, and what laws the country can get passed as Obama works with a fully-controlled Republican Congress.”

    This is a huge step for Savannah Guthrie, who came on board the Today show at a time when many viewers were upset about Ann Curry’s firing from the show.

    “It required a delicate touch,” Guthrie recalled. “My own approach was not to go in there with guns blazing, saying, ‘Pay attention to me.’ It called for someone to come in, put their head down and do the work. I tried to be a credit to the show and not another problem.”

    The past two times President Obama was interviewed during the Super Bowl pre-game show, it was Matt Lauer at the helm. Do you suppose this weighs heavily upon Savannah Guthrie?

    “I hope to leave a favorable impression,” she said.

    And she’ll no doubt do just that. Guthrie, a new mom to baby Vale, has a way about her that appears to make her interviewees want to open up to her. That’s key in the job she holds–one she’s likely thrilled to learn she’ll be holding for at least three more years.

    Will you be tuning in to the Super Bowl pre-game show this coming Sunday to see Savannah Guthrie interview President Barack Obama?

  • Ann Curry Leaving NBC News and Starting Production Company

    Ann Curry is reportedly leaving NBC News to start her own production company. Variety claims an official announcement will be released later today.

    Curry was the news anchor on Today from 1997 until 2011, when she was named co-anchor alongside Matt Lauer following Meredith Vieira’s decision to leave the show. Curry and Lauer never quite seemed to meld, and Ann had a hard time transitioning from hard news to lighter stories–as happens on the morning news shows.

    NBC handled the firing of Ann Curry from her Today post in a most inappropriate manner. Many believed Matt Lauer was behind her firing, but that was never backed up. Nonetheless the show lost lots of viewers when Ann left, and they have never regained their number one morning news show spot. That was quickly usurped by Good Morning America. They have held the title since then.

    Variety says Ann Curry will soon start her own production company, and they site a person ‘familiar with the situation’ as their source.

    Since Curry was fired from Today, she served as a special news correspondent from time to time and occasionally appeared on Dateline NBC.

    An NBC insider told Fox News, “Ann has been unhappy for a long time because she’s basically doing nothing, while NBC is unhappy that she has been paid a lot of money to do nothing.”

    Hopefully once out on her own, Ann Curry can utilize her many talents to their fullest extent.

    Does word of Ann Curry leaving NBC News come as a surprise to you?

    It will be interesting to learn how NBC responds.

  • Kathie Lee Gifford Unveils ‘Today: the Musical,’ Featuring Entire Cast and Regis Philbin [Watch]

    Katie Lee Gifford‘s Today: The Musical, a song and dance spectacle featuring the morning show’s cast and crew, was unveiled Monday.

    Starring the Today show’s stagehand, Sal Cacciato, who plays a props guy with big dreams to appear in front of the camera, the musical also features Gifford, Matt Lauer, Al Roker and Gifford‘s old cohost, Regis Philbin, who aids Cacciato’s character in realizing his dream.

    The project, announced in August, was scheduled to air on Dec. 4, right before NBC’s Peter Pan Live, but production delays made the Dec. 4 airing impossible, so it was moved to Monday.

    Along with Lauer and Roker, all of the Today show hosts participated in the 14-minute production, including Savannah Guthrie, Natalie Morales, Willie Geist, Carson Daly, Tamron Hall, Jenna Bush Hager and Hoda Kotb.

    Guthrie posted a tweet Monday, praising his performance.

    The musical opens as if it’s any other morning with the hosts sitting by the anchor desk, shuffling scripts. However, instead of leading with news briefs, the hosts burst into song with This Is Today. The hosts are then joined by hairstylists, make-up artists, producers, and stagehands. Then it’s Cacciato’s big introduction and his chance meeting with Philbin.

    Gifford, who has a long history in musical theater, includes a lot of inside jokes, including poking fun at frequent rumors that Lauer is leaving the show and a subplot involving the show’s kitchen director making a sauce that is meant to take down Martha Stewart.

    If you didn’t get a chance to catch Today: the Musical, watch the full video of the musical here.

  • Natalie Morales: Did Matt Lauer Save Her Job?

    Natalie Morales was rumored to have been fired from her job on Wednesday. The New York Post, however, reports that this isn’t true. In fact, they say Matt Lauer saved Natalie Morales–along with Savannah Guthrie and Willie Geist–from losing their jobs.

    The anchor team at the Today Show was reportedly about to be split up for good. Savannah was going to be replaced with Hoda Kotb, and Natalie Morales was being shipped off to make room for Tamron Hall or maybe even Josh Elliott. He is expected to take a larger role at Today with a possibility of unseating Matt Lauer when his $20 million-a-year contract expires in 2016.

    Matt Lauer supposedly intervened for Natalie Morales and Savannah Guthrie earlier this week, bringing his concerns to NBC News President Deborah Turness. Following his bidding, top show executive Jamie Horowitz was fired.

    Turness was said to have been fully aware of Jamie Horowitz’s plan to shake up the anchor roster on the show, sources told the New York Post, but, “once the talent complained, she sided with them,” and Horowitz was fired after only 10 weeks on the job. Insiders said his direct approach had offended some show staffers, who–like Natalie Morales and Savannah Guthrie–reportedly feared for their jobs.

    Has this latest purported action on behalf of Matt Lauer now elevated him to ‘good guy’ status on The Today Show? He–and the network–have fought to restore that status ever since Ann Curry’s firing as co-anchor back in June of 2012.

    Do Natalie Morales and Savannah Guthrie have Matt Lauer to thank for saving their jobs on Today? Or is there just some big Today Show soap opera in play here that insiders at the show are trying to keep in the limelight?

  • Natalie Morales: Is She Leaving the Today Show?

    Is Natalie Morales leaving the Today Show? The New York Post says she’s presently looking for another position in the TV news world, and that once she does, she will likely leave Today. It’s the reason behind her wanting to depart that is as big a story, however.

    Sources tell the New York Post that there is quite a power struggle going on at Today between Tamron Hall, Natalie Morales, and the president of NBC News, Deborah Turness. Don’t forget that Natalie Morales has been at Today since 2006 in her role as national correspondent. She has been passed over several times for one of the top anchor spots–the most recent being when Savannah Guthrie was named as the replacement for Ann Curry. It seems Turness hasn’t spoken to Morales in months and is now looking to promote Tamron Hall into a bigger Today Show role.

    “There’s a lot of tension. Natalie and Tamron are competitive, and there was a big blowup in October between the two. Deborah has an issue with Natalie and has sided with Tamron. There has been zero communication between Deborah and Natalie for a long period of time. It’s the talk of NBC staff,” the source explains.

    Today Show executive producer Don Nash says none of this is true, however.

    “This is total nonsense. As the Today Show continues to gain momentum, it sounds like someone is trying to stir up trouble that doesn’t exist,” he says. “Natalie Morales is valued by everyone at the news division from the top down, and her future is with the Today Show and NBC News.”

    It seems there is always some angst at the Today Show. For months after Ann Curry’s departure, Matt Lauer was known as the ‘bad guy.’ Since that issue has simmered down, this new one has cropped up.

    Do you think there is really an issue between Natalie Morales and Tamron Hall? And if so, is it bad enough for Natalie to leave the show? Or do you think this is just the latest saga in the Today Show soap opera instead?

  • Savannah Guthrie Returns to ‘Today’ after 3-Month Maternity Leave Looking Fabulous

    Savannah Guthrie returned to the Today show Monday after a three month maternity leave and she looks great.

    The 42-year-old mother returned 12 weeks after she and husband Mike Feldman welcomed their little baby girl, Vale.

    “It’s so great to be back here, just to see everybody and all of our friends here behind the scenes,” said Guthrie. “I’m used to that three a.m. alarm, but it sounds more like a baby crying.”

    Guthrie indulged fans and co-hosts alike with some home videos she and Feldman shot of their little family.

    The adorable montage shows all of the big moments of the past few months, including an emotional Guthrie heading to the hospital to give birth and the couple holding their baby for the first time.

    “When I lay my eyes on her, I’m just like ‘There you are!’” Guthrie gushed.

    The clips of the the baby, who apparently “looks a lot like Mike,” include every little new parent faux-pas.

    “They don’t send you home with a little manual on what to do” said Guthrie before the video shows the couple trying to install their daughter’s car seat.

    “This first month or so I really checked out. It just felt really important for to focus on her and family,” said Guthrie.

    Like every mother before her, Guthrie‘s first morning back to work was “bittersweet.” Having to leave her little one at home for the first time was hard because the time she has shared with Vale was “so precious and magical.”

    “I definitely don’t want to paint a completely rosy picture. It’s hard. You get very, very exhausted. I’m terrified to come back to a job where I have to speak for a living because I honestly have a really hard time right now putting basic sentences together,” she said before adding “Matt [Lauer] will be so gracious about that.”

    The final tear-invoking moment of the video shows Guthrie waking up her daughter before her first day back, whispering into her precious girl’s ear, “I’m going to work.”

    It was a sweet return for the new mom, with well-wishes coming from a slew of celebrities, including Josh Lucas, Debra Messing, Keri Russell, Rita Wilson, Glenn Close, Russell Brand, Seth Rogen, Jill Martin, Minnie Driver, Lady Antebellum, Chelsea Handler, Emmy Rossum, Clive Davis and B.J. Novak.

  • Nancy Snyderman Breaches Ebola Protocol, Apologizes

    Nancy Snyderman, the NBC News doctor who recently returned from Liberia, breached the Ebola protocol for quarantine set for those exposed to others diagnosed with the disease. She has since apologized, saying she knows she made a mistake.

    The NBC chief medical editor and her team traveled to Liberia earlier in October, where cameraman Ashoka Mukpo contracted Ebola. While he was flown to a Nebraska hospital, Nancy Snyderman and the remainder of their team were placed on a 21-day mandatory quarantine by New Jersey health officials. It remains in effect until October 22nd. Snyderman was spotted last Thursday, October 9th, sitting in a Mercedes outside of a New Jersey restaurant while a man in her car went inside to pick up food. She was wearing sunglasses at the time–perhaps in hopes of not being discovered?

    NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams read a statement from Nancy Snyderman on Monday.

    “We remain healthy and our temperatures are normal,” she said, after acknowledging that members of her team broke the quarantine rules. “As a health professional I know that we have no symptoms and pose no risk to the public, but I am deeply sorry for the concerns this episode caused.”

    Matt Lauer was stopped outside of Rockefeller Plaza on Tuesday and asked about Nancy Snyderman’s breach.

    “She’s already admitted she was wrong. I know she feels like it was a mistake and regrettable, and she’s back to quarantine which is where she should be,” Lauer told a TMZ reporter. “I think she knows she made a mistake.”

    What do you make of Nancy Snyderman and her breach of the Ebola protocol for people exposed to the disease? What kind of example do you think her actions set for others? If they see that a reputable physician and medical editor breaches protocol, might it seem like it’s okay for others to do so, too?

  • Matt Lauer Certainly Has a Sweet Ride to Work Every Day — A Helicopter

    Today show cohost Matt Lauer certainly has a sweet ride to work from his residence in the Hamptons to the NBC studios in New York City.

    The network is reportedly so determined to keep Lauer at the Today show that NBC is footing the bill for Lauer to take a helicopter to and from work so he can spend more time with his family.

    In June, Lauer extended his $20 million contract with NBC News through 2016. The new contract came amid speculation that the longtime morning show host would leave the show over the infamous — and ugly — departure of Ann Curry in 2012, according to Page Six.

    As part of the new contract, NBC reportedly agreed to pay for Lauer to take a helicopter to work in Manhattan from his home in the Hamptons. Lauer also has an apartment in Manhattan, but prefers to spend more time with his family.

    “NBC News chiefs want to do everything to keep Matt happy,” a source told Page Six. “They believe ‘Today’ has turned a corner and he is the key to its continuing success. They agreed to pay for his helicopter flights to the Hamptons and back, so he can spend more time with his family.”

    A Today show rep says the report is a little exaggerated.

    “On rare occasions, Matt will fly home, but most of the time you’ll find him stuck in traffic on the Long Island Expressway with everyone else,” the rep reportedly told Page Six.

  • Ariana Grande Describes Her Love Life With Big Sean in One Word — ‘Happy’

    Ariana Grande took a slight grilling about her love life from Matt Lauer during her appearance on Friday’s Today show.

    Before performing three songs for the crowd gathered outside Today’s studios at Times Square in New York City, the 21-year-old Bang Bang singer answered questions from the morning show host.

    When Lauer asked Grande if anyone has captured her attention in Hollywood, presumably as a way to begin a discussion about her relationship with Rapper Big Sean, the worldwide singing sensation remained rather tight-lipped.

    “Oh my goodness,” said Grande in response to Lauer’s question, before firing right back at the inquisitive host, “Has anybody captured your attention?”

    “Yeah, I’ve been married for 15 years!” he replied.

    “Same!” Grande joked. “I just haven’t told anybody!”

    Lauer kept pushing Grande for a response.

    “Oh, my goodness! Y’all are putting me on the spot,” Grande said. “I’m happy.”

    There it is, that one word — happy.

    We can live with that!

    Lauer took a different line of questioning, asking Grande how she stays grounded despite her mega-fame worldwide, especially with her new album, My Everything, topping the charts in over 80 countries.

    “I spend a lot of time with my family. I’m very grateful for my fans and everything. It’s like a blessing,” the singer said. “I think I just have to constantly remind myself how lucky I am to do what I love.”

    Grande admitted that, like everyone, she has been through struggles but says she has the support of family and friends to tackle whatever comes her way.

    “I feel like growing up everybody goes through the same sort of insecurities and things like that. My family really helped me through a lot of that. I know I say that just about with every answer, but staying close with my family and my friends, that really was the most helpful to me,” gushed the singer. “It puts things in perspective. It reminds you of what’s real and what’s nonsense and what not to pay attention to.”

  • Matt Lauer, Natalie Morales Meet Savannah Guthrie’s Beautiful Baby Girl

    Savannah Guthrie and her beautiful baby girl, Vale, enjoyed a visit Thursday from Guthrie’s Today show colleagues Matt Lauer and Natalie Morales.

    The ecstatic new mom and husband Mike Feldman welcomed baby Vale on Wednesday, just days after she started her maternity leave from the NBC morning show.

    On Friday, Guthrie called into the show to share with viewers how her days as a new mama are going, and even though the host is used to getting up very early for the morning show, she said she was finding sleep hard to come by.

    “They actually had to give me a little sleeping medicine so I would calm down,” confessed Guthrie, saying she only slept about an hour in two days. “Actually, last night I got a good night’s sleep for the first time. Vale slept like the true cherubic baby that she is—the little angel baby.”


    When asked how her husband is faring as a new dad, Guthrie said with a laugh: “You know how fussy he gets! I’ve gotta put him down for his nap or he’s so cranky.”

    Guthrie, who didn’t find out the gender before the birth, said she really thought she was having a boy, so the couple didn’t have many girl names picked out.

    “I really was shocked when they said, ‘It’s a girl!’” In fact, she said, “We had a few names on the girl list, but we had not really settled on one at all.”

    They decided on Vale, an English name, which means, “lives in the valley” and is generally a boy’s name.

    “It’s unique but not kooky,” she said of the moniker.


    Guthrie, 42, said her life is “so different” now that she is a mother.

    “I feel like life just started. Honestly, I just can’t get over the joy that she brings,” she said. “It’s kind of inexpressible.” Immediately following the birth, Guthrie said she “cried and cried” and “didn’t even recognize” the sounds she was making. “It was just like this joy explosion.”

    “We just cry spontaneously because we love her so much and we’re so happy. So I’m a big ball of mush,” said the emotional mom.

    Vale has even received a few marriage proposals on Twitter. Guthrie joked in response, “Any applicant, we’ve gotta get him through the full Matt Lauer screening process.”

    Image via Savannah Guthrie, Instagram

  • Katie Holmes Reflects on Life After Cruise, ‘The Giver’ and Raising Suri

    Katie Holmes is loving life right now.

    It’s been nearly two years since the 35-year-old actress divorced ex-husband Tom Cruise, and she is busier and happier than ever.

    Speaking with Today show host Matt Lauer last week, Holmes shared about life after Cruise, her role as mother to eight-year-old daughter Suri Cruise and portraying an empty-nesting mother in her new film, The Giver.

    “I’m a risk-taker,” Holmes told Matt Lauer of her decision to play the unnamed mother of the hero Jonas — played by Brenton Thwaites — in the movie based on Lois Lowry’s beloved young adult novel. “I love adventures and new things.”

    Holmes said it was easy to approach her role in The Giver.

    “I approached it like all mothers when their child is leaving the nest,” said the Dawson’s Creek alum. “There’s a pain. There’s a loss. That’s how I approached the character.”

    In the interview, Lauer referenced her escalation to superstar status following her marriage to Cruise and asked if she wishes she could go back to the days when she wasn’t the focus of so much attention.

    “Do you ever think you would make a deal and trade some of that fame to go back to that person you were beforehand?” Lauer asked.

    “You know what?” Holmes replied thoughtfully. “I never really look back. I just approach life [taking] it one day at a time. I’m really excited about where I am right now. I’ve had some really wonderful creative experiences. I’m just really grateful.”

    Holmes enjoyed an idyllic life growing up in Toledo, Ohio with a strong, supportive family and says she aspires to give her daughter a similar experience full of the same love and support she experienced, albeit in a very different environment from the one in which she was raised.

    “Of course you try your best. I try very hard because I’m very grateful for my upbringing, my parents, my siblings. I try to do what they did for me for my little one,” said Holmes. “The most important thing for me is letting her know how proud I am and her accomplishments mean everything. Whatever I do is whatever. It’s really just about her. That’s what I think is most important.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Catherine Zeta-Jones Was a ‘Mess’ After Husband Michael Douglas’ Cancer Diagnosis

    Catherine Zeta-Jones conceded recently that she was a “mess” after her husband, Michael Douglas, was diagnosed with stage-four throat cancer in 2010.

    “I was a mess. I’ll be quite frank, I was a mess,” Zeta-Jones told doctors at the International Federation of Head and Neck Oncologic Societies’ fifth World Congress.

    “When I’m married to a man who has such a conviction for life … he fights to make the wrongs right. For the first time he was fighting for his life,” she recalled during remarks at the opening ceremony in New York.

    The And So it Goes actor, who was misdiagnosed four times before the final diagnosis was delivered, has been cancer-free since January 2011.

    “In every sense of the word. I’m very fortunate to be here today,” said the father of two. He and Zeta-Jones have an 11-year-daughter, Carys, and a 12-year-old son, Dylan.

    “We can only imagine what the next century will bring. Thank you for saving my life,” he told the medical team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he was treated in 2010.

    The couple are certainly enjoying life today. The power-couple separated for a brief time last year, but reconciled several months later.

    The Behind the Candelabra actor recently said he is learning to appreciate his wife more and more as he ages.

    ”A lot of it has to do with age. When you’ve accomplished a certain amount in your career, you’re not so focused on your ambitions. It makes you appreciate – and hopefully you do that sooner rather than later – the value of your partner,” he said.

    He often mentions the importance of family and the strength he garnered from relationships during his battle with cancer.

    “All of a sudden the affection from my family, from my friends, and from my fans hit me at a much deeper level than I would have ever imagined before,” Douglas told Today show host, Matt Lauer, in 2011. “And it gave me a really new appreciation of just how valuable, how precious good friends are and family.”

    “There’s a much deeper feeling,” he said. “And I’ve talked to other cancer survivors about this, that – that happens, that you just really, really appreciate what’s important in life.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Scarlett Johansson Plans to Marry Fiancé Romain Dauriac in August

    Scarlett Johansson is apparently planning on getting married next month.

    The 29-year-old actress was overheard telling fellow guests at a dinner thrown by Martha Stewart on Saturday that she and French journalist Romain Dauriac — with whom she is expecting her first child — will marry in four weeks, the New York Post’s Page Six reports.

    The wedding venue is still unknown at this time, but The Avengers star will likely either marry in her fiance’s native Paris, or in the Hamptons, where they have been hanging out this summer.

    Johansson and Dauriac were joined at the dinner held at Stewart’s East Hampton estate with fellow guests and Hampton regulars — Howard Stern, Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, Barbara Walters, Rachel Zoe and Harvey Weinstein. The dinner was held to celebrate the launch of Dom Pérignon’s P2-1998 champagne — a vintage that retails for $400 a bottle.

    The nuptials will likely be rather simple — the actress has admitted she would probably “wing it” on her wedding day.

    “I don’t plan anything. I’m terrible at planning. Yeah, I’m not gonna plan anything – I like to wing it!,” Johansson told Access Hollywood.

    This will be the second marriage for the Lucy star. She was married to Ryan Reynolds from 2008 until 2011 and has admitted she finds it “easier” to date someone who is not a celebrity.

    “It is [easier to be with someone who isn’t famous], but it’s more than that. We do different things. He’s [Romain] in the whole art-scene world. So it’s nice, because we can enjoy each other’s worlds, but we don’t have our crazy conflicting schedules and all that other stuff to contend with,” she said in Vanity Fair’s May issue.

    Image via YouTube

  • Amy Van Dyken-Rouen is Strengthened by Social Media

    Nothing seems to be getting Amy Van Dyken-Rouen down, despite the physical hurdles and emotional fallout following an unfortunate accident that changed her life forever, and social media may have something to do with her positive attitude.

    The six-time Olympic gold medalist was involved in an all-terrain vehicle accident on June 6, leaving her paralyzed.

    From the moment she woke up after surgery to repair her severed spinal cord, the decorated Olympic swimmer began sharing her thoughts and daily updates on social media.

    Amy has always enjoyed sharing her life and thoughts on social media, so husband Tom Rouen, former punter for the Denver Broncos, decided to hand her a telephone and encouraged her to get tweeting.

    The decision proved to be a good one — Amy has found it to be very therapeutic, and it has helped her transition from elite athlete to life in a wheelchair.

    Certainly the love and well-wishes are appreciated by Amy, but it’s a two-way street as her social media followers have benefitted from her positive attitude as well.

    ”She sends stuff out there and gets so much positive energy and positive feedback that I really think it helps her a whole lot,” said Rouen. ”It’s also been good to be able to have a distraction with everything that’s going on.”

    Here are just some of her inspiring Instagram/Twitter posts from day one in the hospital:











    Van Dyken Rouen gave an exclusive interview to TODAY‘s Matt Lauer from Craig Hospital in Denver, where she has begun rehabilitation.

    In the interview, Van Dyken Rouen spoke with Lauer about the challenges ahead. The same positive attitude she exudes in her social media posts is again apparent in the interview as she calls her circumstances just “a setback, and then we’re going to rock and roll.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Pippa Middleton To Give First TV Interview

    Pippa Middleton will appear on NBC’s Today show next week with Matt Lauer in her first-ever televised interview. Middleton, sister to the Duchess of Cambridge and possessor of an internet famous derrière, has never before spoken on her royal sister or her own notoriety.

    “We talked a lot in just the last hour about this great bike event she did across America, money she raised for two really great charities and we are also going to hear about what is like to be Pippa Middleton” said Lauer, who travelled to London for the interview.

    According to reports, the interview will focus on her recent 3,000 mile charity bike ride across the US for Bike For America. And if I know Matt Lauer (I don’t), he will also step entirely out of bounds and mention the tight Alexander McQueen dress that catalyzed her backside’s superstardom.

    Rumors are flying that her interview on NBC is a precursor to a job offer with the network, similar to Chelsea Clinton’s position as a presenter for special segments. Middleton’s past positions include party planning, authoring a book on party planning, and writing for Vanity Fair.

    As her pieces for Vanity Fair are practically unintelligible, perhaps it’s best Pippa tries her hand at a new career. Unfortunately, NBC has flat-out denied the rumors. “This is 100 percent not true and it seems anyone suggesting otherwise is ‘royally’ jealous” said an NBC spokesperson who really, really wanted to make a pun.

    The interview is set to air in two segments on Monday and Tuesday of next week and it has been stated by many reputable news outlets that we can expect nervous giggling, a nice white blouse, and brilliant jokes about bikes.

    Most importantly, we will get some answers about “what it’s like to be Pippa Middleton.” FINALLY.

    Image via YouTube

  • Pippa Middleton Interview: Matt Lauer Scores First Ever

    Pippa Middleton will be interviewed next week by The TODAY Show’s Matt Lauer in what is said to be the first ever interview the sister of the Duchess of Cambridge, a.k.a. Kate Middleton, has ever given. And even though Pippa just finished a cross country bike trek in this country, Matt had to fly to London in order to interview her on her home turf. He actually jokes about that with her during the interview as seen in the short clip above.

    The media has gawked at and talked about Pippa Middleton–most especially her hind quarters–ever since Kate Middleton married Prince William back in April of 2011. Her derriere became the topic most often associated with the younger of the Middleton sisters.

    That’s not what Matt Lauer and Pippa Middleton will discuss during next week’s two-part interview, however. Matt teased on The TODAY Show that their topics of conversation will include the 3,000 mile bike trip she just completed as well as what life is like for her as the sister of the Duchess of Cambridge. Do you suppose he will mention her behind–even just once?

    In addition to simply being Kate Middleton’s younger sister Pippa is the author of a party planning book and is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair.

    Will you be checking out the first ever Pippa Middleton interview on The TODAY Show next week with Matt Lauer? It will definitely be interesting to learn how Kate Middleton’s sister handles herself during an interview and also to find out a few new things about the sister of the Duchess of Cambridge.

    Do you expect to learn that there’s way more to Pippa than just a shapely derriere?

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Matt Lauer Signs New ‘TODAY’ Show Contract, Shares Heart

    Matt Lauer has reportedly signed a continuing contract with The TODAY Show. The morning news show has taken second place to Good Morning America for two years since the network’s demotion of Ann Curry from her spot as Lauer’s co-anchor. Although no terms of Lauer’s new contract have been released, his previous one made him one of the highest paid people in the broadcast industry, bringing in an average of $25 million per year.

    “I consider this the best job in broadcasting,” Matt Lauer said in a statement. “I love people I work with every day, and I have such respect and gratitude for the people I work for. I couldn’t be happier to be staying.”

    Lauer has been with NBC for twenty years and is considered by some–especially those within the NBC family–to be among the very best.

    NBC News President Deborah Turness said Lauer is “the best in the business.”

    On a more personal note, Matt Lauer recently made news for the very powerful letter he wrote to his daughter Romy as part of a TIME magazine and women’s empowerment project that a few of the NBC dads took part in.

    “How did we get from those hysterical ballet lessons at the age of four, to the princess phase, when everything in your world had to be pink? How did we get from the little girl who loved animals to your fearlessness on horseback, despite the occasional trip to the emergency room? And how did you come to decide that you wanted to be one of just a few young ladies in our town to play Little League baseball? Did you have any idea how my heart was bursting with pride?” he wrote to his little girl.

    The letter shares a side of Matt Lauer that some have always believed lurked just beneath of the surface of the astute journalist’s on air facade. Others likely didn’t think he had it in him.

    Something Matt Lauer doesn’t have in him is an ability to maintain a social media image. His Instagram account holds only ten pictures. Here’s one from last fall.

    Even his Twitter posts shine light on his career but not on his personal life.

    Regardless of his lack on social media personality, congratulations are definitely in order to Matt Lauer for continuing on at NBC but congratulations even more for having the wisdom and the strength to share raw emotions with his daughter. That’s a gift not all children get to receive.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Pussy Riot Talks Political Freedom With Matt Lauer

    Political freedom through music, lyrics and videos. That is the drive that keeps Pussy Riot going, even if it costs them their livelihood, even if they have to suffer through beatings.

    Two members of the Russian punk rock band stopped by Today this morning for an interview with Matt Lauer. The Moscow-based feminist protest group is continuing to draw attention to their belief that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a dictator and that Russian people are not free.

    Three band members were arrested back in March 2012 and charged with “hooliganism” for staging a protest performance in a cathedral during Vladimir Putin’s presidential campaign. The girls were denied bail and kept in custody for four months. Maria Alyokhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, were ultimately convicted and sentenced.

    Both Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova spent 22 months in jail. They were eventually released under general amnesty. Samutsevich received a suspended sentence.

    The band’s plight for freedom in Russia has drawn a lot of attention from the rest of the world. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Masha Alekhina spoke with Lauer about their struggles for freedom. Tolokonnikova said through a translator, “I really sincerely wanted Russia that would be free, this idea we heard about free Russia it only became stronger in ourselves during [these] two years that we were in jail. If our government thought that they would just break us down by jailing us, I mean, it didn’t work out at all.”

    Despite the band’s run of success in the music world and their growing fame, they lead difficult lives. Lauer asked about how life has been since their release from prison. Tolokonnika responded, “If we go to the people getting jailed and we want to get in, the people of the government, they attack us and they spray us so we have head concussions and burning of the eyes. That’s what we suffer.”

    Tolokonnikova and Alekhina are both set to appear at Tina Brown’s fifth annual Women in the World Summit. The group will take part in a panel discussion which will be moderated by Charlie Rose. Brown chose the band members because, “They paid a heavy price for their resistance to Putin and I think that what they’ve shown is exactly what is happening now: Putin is a thug, Putin is a bully. They were brave enough to stand up, they paid a price and they went in as students and they came out as world famous activists.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Willard Scott Marries Longtime Love at 80

    No April fool’s hoax here! Willard Scott married his longtime girlfriend Paris Keena on Tuesday. The 80-year-old television personality and Keena have been together 11 years.

    Known for his birthday wishes to centenarians, the former weatherman and Today show personality exchanged vows with his honey in Ft. Myers, Fl.

    Matt Lauer announced the good news on the popular morning show, on which Scott has been a part of for more than 30 years.

    “By the way, we also have some great news this morning about another surprise wedding in our family,” said Lauer during Wednesday’s show. “Yesterday, Willard Scott and his longtime partner Paris Keena tied the knot. Willard and Paris have been together for about 11 years. Congratulations to the both of you. We love you both.”

    The other surprise wedding Lauer is referring to is that of his co-host Savannah Guthrie, who married communications strategist Mike Feldman on March 15. The newlyweds are four months pregnant with their first child together.

    Wondering what Twitter had to say about the news? Take a look:

    Scott was formerly married to Mary Dwyer from 1959 until she died in 2002. Scott has two daughters, Mary and Sally, and two grandchildren.

    And just like they were slow to get hitched, it looks like the lovebirds will also take their time celebrating the marriage. When asked about plans for a honeymoon, Keena stated “Our whole life has been a honeymoon.”

    Image via Today Show, Twitter

  • Savannah Guthrie: TODAY Show Co-Anchor Married and Pregnant

    Savannah Guthrie, co-anchor of The TODAY Show, married fiance Mike Feldman this weekend in an outdoor desert ceremony in Arizona. The really big event, however, took place during the reception inside.

    The bride and groom were mingling with guests at the indoor reception as toasts were given, when the DJ suddenly played the NBC News Special Report theme. Savannah Guthrie laughed and took the microphone, saying, “I feel like the least we could do is break some news.”

    “I — well, we — are four months pregnant,” she added.

    Cheers erupted from the crowd. She did ask everyone there to keep the big news quiet until she could announce it for herself on The TODAY Show on Monday.

    Several of Guthrie’s co-workers attended the wedding.

    “It was such a gorgeous setting,” Al Roker said. “At one point after the ceremony, the sun was setting on one side, the other, we’re talking about a full moon. It was beautiful.”

    Hoda Kotb shared a tweet that included a photo she took at the wedding.

    Savannah Guthrie even tweeted her own shot of her with her new husband.

    Al Roker shared a couple of tweets that included fun shots of Savannah Guthrie and Mike Feldman’s wedding.

    This one includes a selfie of Roker with Matt Lauer, and you can see Hoda Kotb in one of the frames as well.

    Savannah Guthrie shared her twofold big news on The TODAY Show Monday, so now her wedding guests no longer need to hold their tongues.

    “We are so excited, overjoyed and feel so blessed,” she said. “It’s funny, ’cause we set the wedding date, I bought my dress, and then I found out. So I’ve been doing a little praying that I would fit in it, and it all worked out.”

    “I feel great and actually I’m so happy to tell the world because I can’t suck in this gut anymore,” she added.

    Image via Twitter