Lisa Wilkinson has revealed why she didn’t rewatch her final episode of Today before detailing it in her memoir.
Lisa Wilkinson has again defended her recent tell-all memoir from critics, after a leaked video from her final episode of the Today show raised questions about how she’d described the day in the book.
The Sunday Project host was interviewed as part of the Shameless Presents: The Books That Changed My Life podcast, out today, touching on some of the controversies surrounding her memoir It Wasn’t Meant To Be Like This, particularly passages detailing her shock exit from the Today show in 2017.
It comes after a leaked video of the episode in question showed what went down in what was to be Lisa Wilkinson and Karl Stefanovic’s final show together — a morning Wilkinson described as “bizarre”.
Speaking to hosts Michelle Andrews and Zara McDonald, Wilkinson hit out at her critics, claiming “there have been a lot of lies” printed about her in recent weeks.
“Once particular extract of the book was published in isolation, without any of the context of the entire book,” she explained, adding that “every story is true.”
“There’s been attempts to discredit the entire book. And there’s one thing in particular that seems to keep coming up and that is what happened at the desk on my final day of the Today show,” Wilkinson continued.
“In writing the book, obviously I had to recall what happened that morning at the desk, what words were exchanged. I wasn’t in a position to ring Channel 9 and ask for a copy of my final show because let’s just say, things didn’t end well, and I didn’t want to give anybody the satisfaction of laughing at me when I asked for a copy of it.”
She said her account of the events of that morning were a true representation of “the feeling at the desk” alongside Karl Stefanovic, who she claimed in her book had earlier back-pedalled on a pact to renegotiate their salaries in a “Friends-style” deal, ending up with his own multimillion-dollar deal.
Later that day, Wilkinson was axed from the show.
“What I’ve got in the book of what happened is an absolutely 100 per cent accurate assessment of the feeling at the desk that morning, how disappointed I was, and the disingenuous nature of conversations that were had,” Wilkinson said of the morning she was sacked.
“I couldn’t remember word for word, four years ago, exactly the words that were said. So, shoot me. It’s a very accurate reflection of the relationships that were going on that morning.”
Leaked video shows final episode
After the memoir extract of Wilkinson describing her “bizarre” final episode of Today, was made public, footage from the episode was leaked to the media.
She had written that her co-host ignored her before the cameras rolled, and she was left reeling from a question he asked her during the show’s opening seconds. She then found herself sidelined for much of the program.
Stefanovic opened the show, which aired on Monday, October 16 2017, by welcoming Wilkinson back from her second honeymoon. She and husband of 25 years Peter FitzSimons had renewed their vows 10 days earlier. Stefanovic was invited to the celebration, but cancelled via text last-minute.
“We’ve got P!nk on today, just for Lisa and her honeymoon return — Lisa, good morning to you,” he said.
“How good is that? It’s so lovely to be back, and thank you to everyone for all your beautiful messages. We’ve had a fabulous honeymoon, but back to work today,” she said.
Stefanovic then asked her where she had spent the time off.
“We went to beautiful Byron Bay, because we love Australia,” she told him, which earned a sheepish giggle from Stefanovic, who had just been holidaying overseas with new partner Jasmine Yarbrough.
Wilkinson also noted that Today had been filming in the same area during her time off: “And you guys were in the Tweed on Friday! We went to dinner at the place you guys were at next — we skedaddled out of there just before you guys arrived,” she teased.
“Nice to have you back,” said Stefanovic, before the pair introduced newsreader Sylvia Jeffreys and sports reporter Tim Gilbert, also on the desk.
In It Wasn’t Meant To Be Like This, Wilkinson reveals that her vow renewal celebration was actually a major source of tension, after Stefanovic dropped out of the event last minute via text.
“Karl and his new partner Jas had been invited but dropped out just two days before via a text to Pete saying that they were extending an overseas trip and wouldn’t be attending,” she wrote, adding how strange it was he hadn’t contacted her with apologies nor congratulations.
She wrote that she went into her first show back at the desk “upset” — which was compounded by the fact Stefanovic hadn’t contacted her in the 10 days since the celebration, and did not check in with her until cameras were rolling that morning, when he warmly congratulated her for the first time.
“I don’t think the pause I took in that exact moment was picked up by the cameras, but in my mind it lasted an eternity. Now I get the congratulations? Because the cameras are on?” she wrote.
“What did Karl expect me to say? ‘Yeah, I did Karl and I invited you, you said yes, and at the last minute you didn’t show up and haven’t said a single word to me since?’”
As Wilkinson recalls the incident in her book, she writes that she instead responded: “Yeah, I did Karl, but why would anybody care about that when it’s news time? Good morning.”
After that comment, she said: “Karl knew I had cut him dead, something I had never done on or off air before.”
“For the next two hours, I exchanged not a single word with Karl outside of what was scripted – because for the first time, I just didn’t trust myself to ‘play nice’,” she wrote.
Wilkinson writes that she found herself sidelined during that final episode, which aired just hours before her sudden axing from the Nine Network over contract and salary issues.
“Almost every interview was being done by Karl alone,” she wrote, calling the show’s rundown “bizarre”: “I had just about nothing to do.”
She said she even messaged the show’s executive producer Mark Calvert during an ad break to ask what was going on, but got no response.
“For two hours, I sat there feeling completely useless. The Today Show was now The Karl Show. What was the point of me even being there?” Wilkinson writes in her autobiography.
Hours after the episode ended, Wilkinson was shopping in Woolworths when she received a phone call from her manager, who told her she was “off the show”.
“Permanently off. Never to appear again,” he told her. “Today was your last day.”
Shameless Presents: The Books That Changed My Life is available now exclusively on LiSTNR
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2021-11-22 21:36:33Z
CBMisgFodHRwczovL3d3dy5uZXdzLmNvbS5hdS9lbnRlcnRhaW5tZW50L2Jvb2tzLW1hZ2F6aW5lcy9ib29rcy9saXNhLXdpbGtpbnNvbi1oaXRzLWJhY2stYXQtbGVha2VkLWNsaXAtb2YtaGVyLWZpbmFsLXRvZGF5LXNob3ctYXBwZWFyYW5jZS9uZXdzLXN0b3J5L2U3NDc3NWVjZDVkMTk0ZTcwN2VjNmY3MGRjMWMxZjZi0gG2AWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lm5ld3MuY29tLmF1L2VudGVydGFpbm1lbnQvYm9va3MtbWFnYXppbmVzL2Jvb2tzL2xpc2Etd2lsa2luc29uLWhpdHMtYmFjay1hdC1sZWFrZWQtY2xpcC1vZi1oZXItZmluYWwtdG9kYXktc2hvdy1hcHBlYXJhbmNlL25ld3Mtc3RvcnkvZTc0Nzc1ZWNkNWQxOTRlNzA3ZWM2ZjcwZGMxYzFmNmI_YW1w
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