Karl Stefanovic lifts the lid on former Today co-hosts
Karl Stefanovic has shared what he really thinks about the women he has shared The Today Show hosting duties with, such as Jess Rowe, Tracy Grimshaw and Lisa Wilkinson.
In a candid tell-all interview with Stellar magazine's Something To Talk About podcast, Stefanovic discussed the highs and lows of hosting Today since he joined alongside Tracy Grimshaw in February 2005.
“I wasn’t overly nervous, I just knew that I didn’t know enough,” Stefanovic admitted, adding that it took “some time” for him to feel he was no longer out of his depth.
After just one year on the show, Grimshaw announced she would be leaving Today to host A Current Affair, as Karl recalled the cheeky way she informed him of her imminent departure.
“I remember I was late for work because I’d left my shoes at home – I ended up getting Ray Martin’s shoes,” he told the podcast host.
“So I came into the studio like, ‘Hey, Trace, look at this. I’ve got Ray Martin’s shoes.’"
“Tracy leans across and goes, ‘You got his shoes? I got his job.’ That’s how she broke it to me. She denies that story, but it’s 100 per cent accurate.”
Grimshaw was then replaced by Jess Rowe, whose hosting role with Today was short-lived, as Karl admitted Rowe had been “pilloried”.
The mum-of-two was sacked from Today after returning from maternity leave, and her departure made headlines at the time when it was alleged then-Nine boss Eddie McGuire had spoken about wanting to “bone” (fire) Rowe during a meeting with Nine executives.
“It was shocking, the treatment that she had. She was called the most heinous things, and I was just trying to survive,” he explained on Stellar’s podcast.
“I’ve apologised to Jess since then, but at the time I just didn’t know how to navigate my own future, let alone be there for her in the way that I should have.”
Rowe was then replaced by Lisa Wilkinson in 2007, who stayed with the show for ten years.
While there was much public speculation about Lisa and Karl's relationship after her dramatic exit from Today, Stefanovic told Stellar that he doesn’t “waste any time” of his life “thinking about any negative parts” of their long professional stint together.
“But this I will say about Lisa: genuinely adored working with her. I found her to be an incredibly interesting, intelligent, funny woman,” he insisted.
“She taught me so much about the craft of conversation, and we had a really beautiful relationship. So there is no ill will. Only great things came from that.”
The longtime breakfast TV host currently sits alongside Sarah Abo at the desk, for which he describes himself as “so fortunate”.
“In this game, there’s stuff you have control of and there’s stuff you don’t. At any point on any given day, I can be replaced. The show is bigger than I am,” Stefanovic pointed out.
“I don’t see Sarah ever being replaced. And I genuinely have no interest in working with anyone else."
Image credits: Nine