News Anchors Who Vanished After Getting Fired

This article contains references to sexual assault and substance abuse.

They may not be celebrities in the traditional sense, but news anchors have the opportunity to become famous in their own right. Indeed, mainstream outlets on both sides of the political aisle have given rise to household names who have millions of viewers, and millions in the bank. For example, longtime CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer's net worth is a cool $25 million, while the richest Fox News anchors are also raking in vast amounts, like Sean Hannity's massive $250 million fortune.

On the flip side, they're at risk of losing it all in the blink of an eye. Just like any other celebrity, famous anchors aren't immune to negative publicity. Over the years, some of TV's biggest names in news have lost it all due to scandal and controversy, and many have never recovered. Folks who were pulling in huge audiences and used to be synonymous with the small screen have been banished to live quieter lives with minimal reach or, in some cases, no work at all. These are the once-popular news anchors who vanished after getting fired.

Ann Curry was a staple of the NBC News family, first as an anchor from 1997 through 2011, then as a "Today" show co-host for the year that followed. However, her time at the network came to an abrupt end in June 2012 when she was suddenly fired. "This is not as I expected, to ever leave this couch after 15 years," she told viewers, per E! News. It seems Curry's departure occurred against her will and, according to insiders who spoke with New York magazine, it came down to Lauer not being a fan of his new co-host. "If he stayed, Curry would be gone," they explained.

Following Curry's controversial "Today" show exit, she was supposed to continue working as a correspondent, but in reality, her new role never really took off, and she ultimately left NBC in 2015. Curry then hosted two seasons of PBS' "We'll Meet Again" in 2018, followed by one season of TNT's "Chasing the Cure," before disappearing from the small screen in 2019. While she did tell Variety she'd be open to getting back to morning TV, that has yet to happen as of 2026. Instead, she may have to contend with focusing on family life, including her two kids, and trying to work past the pain. Speaking of her firing, she told People back in 2018, "It hurt like hell." She repeated that sentiment in 2020, telling Elle, "It honestly hurts really deeply because I really think I did nothing wrong."

Brian Williams was the most-watched evening news anchor in America during his time at "NBC Nightly News," which began in 2004. However, it was his reporting that ultimately tanked his reputation and career in 2015. That February, NBC News suspended Williams without pay for six months after discovering discrepancies in how he described his time covering the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Williams repeatedly said he had been on a helicopter that was shot at, but service members disputed those claims. In the end, Williams retracted his version, saying, per the Los Angeles Times, "I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago." The drama didn't end there, though, as New Orleans residents sounded the alarm over William's reporting on Hurricane Katrina, during which he made unproven statements about rampant violence and lack of water.

Ultimately, NBC concluded that Williams' stories weren't always accurate and he never returned to "NBC Nightly News." Interestingly, Williams had just signed a five-year contract, and instead of canceling it, the network moved him to MSNBC to ride it out until 2021, when he left the network for good after 28 years. Since then, Williams has occupied his time as an active volunteer firefighter in Ocean County, New Jersey. In 2023, he also hired the Creative Artists Agency to help him make a comeback, but they didn't get very far. Williams was hired to host a one-off election night special for Prime Video in November 2024, but he disappeared again.

Matt Lauer became a household name after joining the "Today" show in 1997 and was still at the top of his game in 2017 when, suddenly, Lauer experienced a disturbing downfall. It all began that November when fellow NBC employee Brooke Nevils filed a formal complaint, accusing him of sexual harassment. The longtime anchor was fired the very next day, but maintained that while he was guilty of having an affair, their relationship had been consensual. Soon, though, other women began to come forward with similar accounts, and Lauer all but disappeared from the spotlight.

Lauer wasn't photographed out in public until October 2019, when he was spotted getting breakfast on Long Island. "Matt has been hunkered down in the Hamptons," a source explained to People, confirming Lauer's transformation since getting fired. Gone was the social high life, as Lauer became isolated from friends and colleagues. "There was a time there where he wasn't really talking to anybody," an insider told People. However, that apparently began to change in 2023. "He's been reconnecting with friends," the source shared, adding that Lauer was also enjoying healthy relationships with his kids and ex-wife. And while he was still spending most of his time in the Hamptons, he was also traveling to his second home in New Zealand with girlfriend Shamin Abas, whom he started dating in 2019. According to insiders, Lauer's life remains quiet, but that's apparently enough. "He doesn't work and he doesn't have to," they mused.

November 2017 proved to be a monumental month in the #MeToo movement, as veteran anchor Charlie Rose met the same fate as Matt Lauer. It began with The Washington Post publishing the allegations of eight women who claimed Rose had sexually harassed them to varying degrees. Rose was accused of groping colleagues, appearing naked in front of them, making explicit comments, and more. The stories just kept coming, as Rose was accused of sexual misconduct by 27 more women, and soon, he was terminated by CBS, PBS, and Bloomberg. For his part, Rose claimed the encounters had been consensual and that some of the stories were untrue. Even so, his career was pretty much done.

Four months after his firing, The Hollywood Reporter learned that Rose was essentially hiding out in his Bellport, Long Island home, trying to keep a low profile. "The normally dynamic fixture was in full-on head-down mode," they wrote, noting that he wouldn't even go out to pick up food anymore, instead sending a housekeeper to do so. The outlet also learned that Rose was occupying his time with fishing and tennis and avoiding contact with locals who once adored him but now ignored him. Since then, Rose has posted the occasional interview to his website, including one with Warren Buffett in 2022, but they are few and far between and getting none of the attention he used to command.

Fox News anchor Ed Henry was a staple on right-wing morning TV as the co-host of "America's Newsroom," but he was swiftly removed from the limelight in July 2020. Henry, who joined the network in 2011, was accused of sexual misconduct in the workplace that June and was immediately suspended. Just five days later, he was fired following an internal investigation.

The incident had occurred years earlier but wasn't made into a formal complaint until 2020. That same month, a lawsuit was filed accusing Henry of sexually assaulting Fox Business producer Jennifer Eckhart and of sending explicit messages to frequent guest Cathy Areu. The suit also named Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Howard Kurtz, but it was Henry who, a year later, filed his own lawsuit to respond to the accusations. In his filing, Henry accused Fox News and its CEO, Suzanne Scott, of defaming him by implying that he was guilty. He also claimed that his relationship with Eckhart had been consensual.

Rather than back down, a Fox News spokesperson slammed Henry, calling the move "a desperate attempt for relevance and redemption," per NBC News. Indeed, Henry has largely been banished from the spotlight. He made headlines again in June 2025 when he settled with Eckhart, thus ending her lawsuit, but his career hasn't bounced back. While he did eventually find work at Newsmax, the network itself has admitted that "reaching critical mass with distributors, advertisers, and audiences" (via Newsmax) has been impossible due to Fox News' domination in the space.

Former CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin landed her dream job when she joined the network in 2008, but it soon turned into a nightmare. Back in February 2021, the CNN Newsroom anchor took viewers by surprise when, after 13 years, she announced she was leaving without much of an explanation. "There is just more I need to do," she said, per Deadline. Except that wasn't really the case, as Baldwin later revealed in a 2024 essay for Vanity Fair. In reality, she didn't leave of her own accord, but rather, she was fired due to mounting drama behind the scenes.

It all began when she was relocated from Atlanta to New York, but her executive producer stayed behind. "After my move, our working relationship started to take a drastic turn," she recalled. "The word gaslighting has become so cliché, but that's what it felt like." According to Baldwin, he stopped behaving professionally and became a bully until, in November 2019, she told her boss she wanted a new producer — something that wasn't uncommon. Not only was her request denied, but Baldwin was taken off the air for two months and told she could easily be replaced. In January 2021, she was fired, and, sadly, her career hasn't really picked up since. As of 2026, Baldwin is still listed as self-employed on LinkedIn and hasn't returned to mainstream media. And while she hosts a short weekly podcast (usually under 15 minutes) titled "Unraveling, with Brooke Baldwin" on Substack, each episode garners just a handful of comments and likes.

Steve Kmetko spent nearly a decade interviewing all the biggest celebrities for E! News, starting in 1994. However, his Hollywood career came screeching to a halt in 2002 when he was suddenly fired. As Kmetko would reveal years later on a 2024 episode of his "Still Here Hollywood" podcast, he was in the middle of renegotiating his contract with E! and cheekily told fans on his website, "I'd appreciate you writing to management and just saying, 'We like Steve.'" Apparently, management didn't find that amusing, and when they asked Kmetko if he had used a company computer to make the post, he said no, even though he had. Despite Kmetko's confusion, E! used his lie as a reason to fire him — a decision the anchor still doesn't understand. "They felt that was a violation of something," he quipped.

Following his exit, Kmetko tried to find a new reporting gig but was told he was too closely associated with E! Ultimately, he moved to Chicago to care for his aging parents and got an everyday job at the Apple Store. "I was the oldest salesperson on the floor there," he recalled. The sudden downgrade pushed Kmetko to self-medicate, and he'd drink an entire bottle of Johnnie Walker Black after work, "then I'd wash down a Xanax or a sleeping pill." Kmetko eventually got sober around 2016 and has been trying to get back into the spotlight with his podcast, but his guests aren't the giants they used to be, and neither is his reach.

The list of celebs who can't stand Donald Trump is long and varied, but voicing dislike against the president can come with serious consequences. That's a lesson ABC News' Terry Moran learned the hard way in June 2025 after he took to X late one evening to criticize both Trump and his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller. In a since-deleted tweet saved by CNN, Moran dubbed the men "world-class haters" and accused them of thriving off of negativity. "His hatred [is] only a means to an end, and that end [is] his own glorification," Moran wrote of Trump, per The Hill. "That's his spiritual nourishment."

Moran was quickly suspended, then fired just two days later, with an ABC spokesperson telling NPR that the post "was a clear violation of ABC News policies." While Moran admitted to being drunk when he posted the tweet, he refused to take back his comments. "I don't think you should ever regret telling the truth, and I don't," he told The New York Times. He echoed that sentiment with The Bulwark, noting, "I wrote it because I thought it was true." Unfortunately, that truth completely sank Moran's future, as he hasn't been back on TV since. Trying to reclaim some of his career, he launched a Substack newsletter called "Real Patriotism" that same month, but as of March 2026, it only has 111K followers as opposed to the millions of viewers he was reaching by being part of a major network.

If you or anyone you know needs help dealing with sexual abuse or substance abuse, contact the relevant resources below:

• The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).