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‘GMA’ Cast Is “Relieved” Lara Spencer Is Taking a Step Back From the Morning Talk Show (REPORT)
Fans grew concerned when they didn’t see Lara Spencer on Good Morning America yesterday morning — so, did she leave GMA? Not exactly, but you might start seeing less and less of her on the small screen, and everyone at the show is reportedly happy about it.
“Staff are relieved that Lara’s schedule is being cut back,” an industry insider told Page Six. “She treats staff badly, she yells at people and she makes a lot of extra work for people.”
It was reported that the 48-year-old is pulling back from her current role to focus on new and unique career opportunities. But sources said she doesn’t bring much to the morning series’ ratings and it was actually the network that cut back her airtime. “Lara’s good at her job,” the source added. “But it’s not like the [ratings] are affected when she’s not on [the show].”
But a rep for GMA strongly disagrees. “This is ridiculous. She is the ultimate team player. Lara decided to cut back her hours on GMA to focus on her production company,” they said.
A source told People on Monday, April 16 that Lara is stepping away from her role as GMA co-anchor to focus on her lifestyle brand and her production company, DuffKat Media (which takes its name from her teenagers, Duff and Kate). “Lara loves working at GMA and she will continue to join the GMA desk on select mornings each week and contribute to special assignment reporting so she can continue building her lifestyle brand and work on all the TV shows for her production company,” this insider said.
Lara joined the Good Morning America team as lifestyle anchor in 2011. She had actually joined the ABC morning show back in 1999 as a national correspondent, but she left in 2004 to host the celeb news show, The Insider. Over the years, she has also hosted two seasons of Antiques Roadshow and co-hosted two Miss America pageants.
But now, with new career pursuits on Lara’s horizon, it’s apparently all about striking the right balance. “She knows she can’t balance GMA, all her upcoming television shows, and DuffKat while also finding time for her family,” the source added. “Not to mention, she’s in the midst of planning a wedding!”
This Long Island native got engaged to tech entrepreneur Rick McVey in January, two years after they met on a blind date. She was previously married to journalist David Haffenreffer, the father of her two kids.
As for her new career ventures, DuffKat Media has a “heavy slate of projects currently in active development,” People reported. The source even says Lara recently sold two shows to Scripps, which was just purchased by Discovery Communications. She’ll host one of those two shows and executive-produce both. And don’t forget, she’s also the host of HGTV’s Flea Market Flip, which was just renewed for a 12th season. We wish her the best of luck!
