HOLLYWOOD TURNS AGAINST MEGYN
Stars give Megyn Kelly the cold shoulder after her new show’s rocky start
Jane Fonda wasn’t having it. When the venerable actress sat down with Megyn Kelly on Sept. 27 to plug her new movie, Our Souls at Night, the former Fox News anchor asked the 79-year-old why she once said she wasn’t proud to admit she’s had plastic surgery. Jane shot Megyn an icy glare and snapped, “We really want to talk about that now?” After the segment, In Touch has learned exclusively, Jane went straight to NBC’S top brass to complain about the Megyn Kelly Today host. “She thought Megyn’s question was below the belt,” says an insider. Indeed, as Jane told In Touch at Netflix’s Our Souls at Night premiere that night, “It was just a strange question.”
Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar agrees. After the interview ran, she made it clear she’s on Team Jane. “So how come @megynkelly didn’t ask @Robertredfcrd if he had any plastic surgery??” a bewildered Sarah tweeted. Sarah, 40, and Jane are far from Megyn’s only critics. Since its premiere on Sept. 25, Megyn’s highly anticipated talk show — a new version of Today’s 9 a.m. hour, retooled exclusively for her — has been plagued with awkward moments, terrible reviews and backlash from celebrities such as Jane and Will & Grace star Debra Messing. (“The debut was like watching a network try to assemble its own Bride of Frankenstein, using parts of Ellen Degeneres, Kelly Ripa and whatever else it can find,” sniped The Washington Post.) Megyn, 46, reportedly turned down $25 million a year from Fox News to go to NBC, but “Hollywood hasn’t exactly put the welcome mat out for her,” says a source. “Megyn has left a lot of people cold.”
She stumbled out of the gate. On the inaugural episode, Megyn — who’s moved out of her comfort zone of covering politics — interviewed the Will & Grace cast, including Debra, and asked a male superfan on-air if he “became gay” from watching the show. A harsh and swift backlash followed. “Just get rid of that dumb [ bleeps] already,” tweeted one of many angry viewers. But the nastiest burn came from Debra, 49, herself, who wrote on Instagram that she was “dismayed” by the comments and implied NBC basically misled her into appearing: “The itinerary just said Today Show appearance. Regret going on.”
Getting A-list guests is proving to be a problem. “Megyn hasn’t been able to book any big-name stars that haven’t been on Today during the first two hours,” the source says of the anchor’s rocky start. It likely won’t get easier if numbers don’t improve. Even though the premiere ratings roughly tied its main rival, Live With Kelly and Ryan, they dipped in days following and fell behind. By Thursday, ratings dropped from her debut of 2.93 million to 2.4 million. (Still, an NBC source insists, “She’s doing great.”)
One person who isn’t surprised Megyn is struggling: Matt Lauer. As In Touch previously reported, the co-anchor of Today, 59, has been critical of the network’s decision to make Megyn the show’s newest star — and her rocky debut hasn’t broken his heart. He wants the show to succeed, says the source, but from day one he’s never liked how her addition to Today has been handled. ◼