Matt Lauer’s History at ‘Today’: Two Decades of Highs and Lows<br />A few months after her departure, interviewed Ms. Curry about what unfolded during her brief time next to Mr. Lauer:<br />Many executives at the network never grasped how profoundly hurt and humiliated Curry remained — not just by her televised dismissal<br />but by all the backstage machinations that led to that fateful morning.<br />But no transition turned more tense and awkward — or filled more New York tabloid pages with rumors of<br />infighting on the show — than the promotion of Ann Curry in 2011 as co-anchor alongside Mr. Lauer.<br />The actor Tom Cruise joined “Today” to discuss his new movie, “War of the Worlds,” with Mr. Lauer.<br />But then Mr. Lauer, cutting away from the pretaped interview, said the second<br />part of their discussion “gets a little testy” and “the mood changes a bit.”<br />“Just knowing people who are on Ritalin isn’t enough,” Mr. Cruise told him, pointing a finger, before engaging in an attack on psychiatry.
