Kelly Rowland left the crew of TODAY scrambling on February 15, when the former Destiny’s Child member walked off of the morning show’s set over alleged displeasure with her dressing room. The actress has been accused of exhibiting diva behavior by ducking out of the commitment, as she was slated to co-host TODAY’s 10 a.m. hour with Hoda Kotb in place of Jenna Bush Hager, but Beyoncé's dad rejected that description of Rowland, calling her “a sweetheart.”
Mathew Knowles, the father of Beyoncé and Solange, was the manager of Destiny’s Child, so he’s known Kelly Rowland since before she was famous, and he felt compelled to defend the Freddy vs. Jason actress following the Today fallout, telling TMZ:
Kelly is a sweetheart. Kelly lived with us, I look at Kelly as my daughter. And I dunno what happened but I can tell you one thing: She's not a diva; she's a sweetheart. That's all I know.
Mathew Knowles admitted that he doesn’t know the full story of what happened on set of the longtime NBC morning show, but he felt confident that it was not in Kelly Rowland’s character to be a “diva.”
On February 15, Kelly Rowland appeared TODAY’s 8 a.m. hour, where she was interviewed by Savannah Guthrie for her new Netflix thriller Mea Culpa (which critics did not review favorably). The actress was then supposed to join Hoda Kotb as a guest host on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna, but that’s when the backstage drama apparently went down.
According to Page Six, Kelly Rowland and her team asked about being moved to a new dressing room because “they didn’t like the one she was in.” The upstairs green room was being used by Jennifer Lopez, who was promoting her new movie and album This Is Me… Now, and a game of “musical dressing rooms” ensued, in which multiple other rooms and hair and makeup areas were reportedly offered. An insider said:
They didn’t want that. [The show] basically offered up as much as possible, but they weren’t happy with it, so they walked and they left.
After Kelly Rowland’s unexpected exit, Rita Ora was available to fill in as Hoda Kotb’s co-host, but it’s a situation that some felt shouldn’t have gone as far as it did. The Real Housewives of New York alum Bethenny Frankel recalled her own experience on TODAY in a since-deleted TikTok post (via HuffPost), saying:
Your dressing room is the size of a closet, and you’re trying to fit all your people in the clown car. And you know what? You’re so excited. You’re so gracious. You’re co-hosting on the ‘Today’ show — an institution in entertainment, a news organization that is not about fancy dressing rooms. … That was not the moment for diva expectations.
Kelly Rowland herself has not spoken about the incident, but there seems to be no bad blood between her and the iconic TODAY host, as Hoda Kotb addressed the issue the following week. Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager clarified that the Destiny’s Child star is always welcome back, with Kotb saying (per People):
I just wanna say this, I have great love and admiration for Kelly Rowland. I adore her. And I want her to come back on our show, and I want her to host again. She can share my dressing room — we’ll be in it together!
We’ll have to see if Kelly Rowland takes them up on their offer. In the meantime, you can see the actress in the Tyler Perry thriller Mea Culpa, which is available to stream with a Netflix subscription, and be sure to see what premieres are ahead with our 2024 TV schedule, as well as what’s new and coming soon to Netflix.
