Tamron Hall on Leaving NBC: Why She Turned Down $2 Million Deal When Network Replaced Her

Tamron Hall has revealed the reasoning behind one of the pivotal career decisions of her life: walking away from a $2 million annual contract with NBC in 2017.

The 55-year-old Emmy-winning television host sat down with Scott Evans for his House Guest series to discuss her exit from the network, detailing what led her to pass up the substantial financial offer.

Hall joined the third hour of Today in 2014 alongside Natalie Morales, Al Roker, and Willie Geist, making history as the first Black woman to serve as co-anchor on the program. Three years later, the network decided to hand her co-hosting slot to Megyn Kelly. Rather than accept a different position at NBC, Hall chose to step away entirely.

Kelly's tenure on Today proved short-lived, lasting just one year before she was terminated following inflammatory remarks she made about blackface costumes worn on Halloween.

Hall described the moment she learned of NBC's decision through her agent. "Making a big change," her representative texted, followed by a list of alternative opportunities the network was prepared to offer her, she recalled to Evans, as reported by People.

The bombshell arrived while Hall was heading to work, preparing to go on air for her roles at MSNBC Live and Dateline. "I sit in a chair and I go, I'm almost, like, blacking out because your whole life is flashing before you," she said of the experience.

Her first instinct was to contact her mother. "I text my mom and I said, 'It's done,'" Hall recounted.

When asked why she rejected the deal, Hall was direct: "All money's not good money. It's not."

Hall also shared the wisdom her mother, Mary Newton, offered in that pivotal moment. "She said to me, 'I am so proud of you because do you know how many times we've had to get off the sidewalk for someone else to walk?'" Hall explained. Reflecting on younger Black women entering journalism, she added: "If they see me lose, they may think they can't win. And that day is why I turned it down."

She emphasized that her decision wasn't about positioning herself as a martyr. "I'm not trying to sound like I'm a sacrifice or anything and I understood that that did not define me," she said.