Megyn Kelly is known for her no-holds-barred opinions, but it was still surprising when she outed a whole slew of the most "unhappy” celebrities she’s interviewed in Hollywood. The list was varied and included a-list actors all the way down to one beloved journalist. Yes, I’m talking about Al Roker. And no I didn’t see his name coming, but they do have a past.
Some A-Listers Megyn Kelly Claims Are More Naughty Than Nice
Kelly was asked by The Daily Mail about some negative interactions she’s had over the years. Unsurprisingly, she had opinions, but it was still a bit surprising to see her openly name drop some of her bad interactions, one of which came from Jane Fonda and Robert Redford when they were promoting Our Souls at Night. She said she had a tough time navigating through the fact Redford refused to talk about their sex scenes, but Fonda wanted to:
He doesn't want to talk about them. Steer her to any other topic. It makes him uncomfortable.She was offended that I wasn't steering her there. She really wanted to talk about their sex scenes.
Both Fonda and Redford are Hollywood legends, but she also told the outlet they weren’t the only legends to really be tough on her during her time on the air. Bruce Willis has been more out of the public limelight and has retired from acting since his Aphasia diagnosis (though wife Emma Heming Willis has been a champion of research for the cause, and has been candid about the 'blessing and curse' with Willis' diagnosis).
However, in his heyday, he was apparently not-so-easy to deal with. Megyn Kelly said Bruce Willis agreed to go on Fox News, despite having a different political take than many of the anchors there, and she noted it was awkward overall. Said Kelly:
He came on and was just so clearly unhappy to be there.I mean, that's fine, he has his politics, but why agree to come on?
However, of all the people Kelly name-dropped as having a bad attitude toward her, I did not see one fellow broadcaster coming.
NBC's Al Roker Made Megyn Kelly’s List
Al Roker is one of America’s Darlings. He’s known for being well-liked and affable on NBC’s Today. He publicly weathered a health scare that kept him from the show for a while, and kept a positive attitude throughout the ordeal. He’s a cheery guy… at least when on camera. Kelly was a little reticent to be as specific about Al Roker’s specific issues, but she made a comparison most people could understand.
Let's just say, if my mother ran into Al Roker, she would turn into Larry David bumping into Alan Dershowitz at Martha's Vineyard very quickly.
Megyn Kelly currently runs her own podcast “The Megyn Kelly Show,” but prior to these she was an anchor for Fox News from 2004-2017 during an era where people’s political opinions became more polarizing. She left Fox for NBC News after the scandal with Roger Ailes, working for the same network Al Roker worked for at the time. From her Dershowitz (a conservative) bumping into Larry David (a liberal) comment, it sounds like Kelly felt Mr. Roker was not super warm or welcome to her.
We do know that Al Roker publicly called out Ms. Kelly amidst the backlash after she claimed blackface within the context of Halloween costumes is OK. She later left NBC to go it alone.
In my personal experience, celebrities run the gamut. They can be consistently nice or consistently not, though many might have different moods on different days. I’ve experienced celebrities who are totally nice and engaged for one movie and irritated for others, and we don’t know if the experiences Kelly had with certain celebrities might have changed over time. We also don’t know if she interacted with some of these people multiple times. Suffice to say, we all have had exchanges with people that may not have gone as planned. Yet, in the journalist’s case, there’s more tea simply because she’s dealing with famous people on a day-to-day basis.
