Footage of Karl Stefanovic paying tribute to his former Today co-host Lisa Wilkinson the day after she was sacked by the network has resurfaced.
He addressed viewers the morning after news broke Wilkinson, 61, had left Nine and was jumping ship to Channel 10 – and his choice of words is very telling in hindsight.
Stefanovic said he was ‘surprised’ and ‘shocked’ by her departure – but this doesn’t align with his former colleague’s version of events.
Wilkinson claims in her new autobiography she was fired for demanding equal pay and that her co-host had given her the cold shoulder in the weeks before her exit.
What did he know? Footage of Karl Stefanovic paying tribute to his former Today co-host Lisa Wilkinson the day after she was sacked by the network has resurfaced
Stefanovic’s earnest monologue was delivered in Wilkinson’s absence, after the latter was notified by network executives she wouldn’t be returning to the show.
He said: ‘For ten years Lisa has dragged herself out of bed at 3:30 in the morning, fed the dogs and cats, put a load of washing on and come into work and sat on my left to inform you at home about what’s happening in the world.’
‘For whatever reason she won’t be doing that any more,’ he added, in what appeared to be a scripted speech, ‘and it was a surprise to us all.’
Hmm: Stefanovic addressed viewers the morning after news broke Wilkinson, 61, had left Nine and was jumping ship to Channel 10 – and his choice of words is very telling in hindsight
Memory lane: His earnest monologue was delivered in Wilkinson’s absence, after the latter was notified by network executives that she wouldn’t be returning to the show
‘It’s safe to say we’re all a little bit shocked,’ Stefanovic continued.
‘It will take a little while to sink in,’ he said, before going on to praise his former co-host’s many positive attributes, including her ‘calmness’.
He signed off: ‘Mostly you go with my love, lots of love, all my love. We’ll see you soon, maybe after midday.’
New gig: Wilkinson is seen here in her new role as a co-host of Channel 10’s The Project
The resurfaced footage comes after Wilkinson lifted the lid on her final days working at Nine’s Today show in an excerpt from her new book, It Wasn’t Meant to Be Like This, published in The Sunday Telegraph.
She claimed Stefanovic had given her the cold shoulder in the weeks prior to her sacking over a pay dispute.
She explained she and her husband, Peter FitzSimons, had invited Stefanovic and his partner, Jasmine Yarbrough, to attend their 25th anniversary vow renewal ceremony in October 2017.
‘Love’: He signed off his monologue, ‘Mostly you go with my love, lots of love, all my love. We’ll see you soon, maybe after midday.’ Pictured: Wilkinson and Stefanovic in April 2014
Two days before the event, however, Stefanovic contacted FitzSimons to say they wouldn’t be attending because they’d extended their overseas holiday.
‘In the ten days since [the ceremony] Karl hadn’t contacted me, his co-host of almost eleven years, at all. No phone message, no text, no apology, not even a simple congrats. Just complete silence,’ Wilkinson alleged.
After returning to work, Wilkinson claimed Stefanovic did not ask her about her holidays, nor did he apologise for being a ‘no-show at the wedding’.
Sad last days: It comes after Wilkinson lifted the lid on her final days working at Nine’s Today show in an excerpt from her new book, published in The Sunday Telegraph
‘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 said.
Wilkinson went on to say she was also ‘quietly fuming’ because ‘nearly every interview that day was being done by Karl alone’.
‘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?’ she added.
Upon learning she had been sacked later that day, Wilkinson wondered: ‘Was this why [Karl] didn’t attend the wedding and hadn’t spoken to me since? Was this why he never said a word about the show’s strange rundown that morning?’
Bombshell: She claimed Stefanovic had given her the cold shoulder in the weeks prior to her sacking, and snubbed her vow renewal ceremony with husband Peter FitzSimons