Given how long Sajak and White have worked together, many viewers have wondered over the years whether or not the pair was ever romantically involved. It’s a question that White finally answered. Here’s a brief history of the hosts’ time on the show and their unique relationship.
Joining ‘Wheel of Fortune’
Pat Sajak joined Wheel of Fortune in December of 1981. A year later, Vanna White was also made part of the cast. She made it to the final round of casting over more than 200 other women who hoped to become the future letter flipper. Ultimately, White won out over Summer Bartholomew and Vicki McCarty, the other top choices for the role of hostess.
After testing each of the women on real episodes of the show, the producer decided that White was the one who activated the letters best of all the candidates. She quickly became very popular among viewers, particularly young adults. Many of her fans were interested in her dazzling show wardrobe. The phenomenon, known as “Vannamania,” swept through the United States, earning the new star numerous additional jobs outside of Wheel of Fortune.
Nearly 40 years together
For the next 40 years, White and Sajak would work intimately together as host and hostess of Wheel of Fortune. While they generally stuck to the same roles throughout this time, there were a few instances where they would swap, most notably in November 1996 when Sajak had laryngitis.
Despite their many years together, in 2020 Sajak admitted that he initially didn’t want White to be cast as the hostess. He said, “Not that she wasn’t lovely and wonderful and personable and all that. But she was the most nervous, by far, of any of them.”
White obviously proved him wrong and has done a wonderful job. It helped that the pair seems to have such incredible chemistry together. It’s this very chemistry which has caused many fans to question just what kind of relationship White and Sajak had outside of filming.
Friends or more?
It is well known that White and Sajak get along well – extremely well, in fact. According to White herself, they rarely disagree on anything except whether ketchup should be put on a hot dog. Yet despite their closeness, White has emphasized that they really are just best friends and there is nothing romantic going on between them. The closest the two have come to being involved was when they played a prank on their audience.
“Years and years ago, we did an April Fool’s joke,” White recalled. “I don’t know that we said we were married, but we said something about being together, and we received toasters…” Sajak added later that it took years for people to stop sending the “married couple” Crockpots.
So although the renowned Wheel of Fortune stars have been together, in a work sense, for longer than most couples, they are not, and have never been, in a romantic relationship.
Nearly 20 years without a raise?
Soon after Sajak announced his retirement, fans were stunned to learn that Vanna White has not gotten a pay raise in 18 years. This surprising revelation comes from Puck reporter Matthew Belloni, who says that White, 66, has hired an aggressive lawyer to negotiate a raise as her current deal concludes at the end of the 2023-24 season.
Puck’s report states that White currently earns $3 million annually, while Sajak earns five times more than that. While some argue that Sajak is the host while White is a co-host responsible only for revealing letters on the board, Puck asserts that White engages in significantly more publicity for the show than Sajak. Sony, the show’s production company, declined to comment on Puck’s findings.
Whoopi Goldberg from The View expressed interest in taking over Sajak’s role, and several other notable names, including Ryan Seacrest and Sajak’s daughter Maggie, were mentioned as potential candidates.
Seacrest was named the new host of ‘Wheel’
The New York Times and other media outlets reported on June 27 that Ryan Seacrest will take over as the host of Wheel of Fortune. The news comes just two weeks after Sajak’s announcement. Seacrest, 48, is a talk show veteran himself, having hosted and produced many other programs including American Idol and Live with Kelly and Ryan.
“I’m truly humbled to be stepping into the footsteps of the legendary Pat Sajak,” Seacrest said in a statement. “I can say, along with the rest of America, that it’s been a privilege and pure joy to watch Pat and Vanna on our television screens for an unprecedented 40 years, making us smile every night and feel right at home with them.”
Seacrest will also act as a consulting producer on the show.
Real reason Kate Middleton turned down invite to Lilibet’s 1st birthday party – she was mocked by Meghan’s pal
It’s reasonable to suppose Princess Lilibet is still ignorant of her parents’ past. After Prince Harry and Meghan Markle relocated to Montecito, California, the small child was born in the US, and her upbringing differed greatly from her father’s. Even though Lilibet’s first birthday was truly celebrated in the UK, rumors and conjecture still persisted.
Lilibet’s first birthday celebration was missed by her cousins Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis as well as her royal aunt and uncle, Prince William and Kate Middleton. Although it is said that the late Queen Elizabeth was present, she declined to have her photo taken with her great-granddaughter.
The absence of William and Kate at Lilibet’s birthday celebration sparked reactions soon after. While it is true that the Waleses and Sussexes’ relationship was at an all-time low, one of Meghan’s pals publicly mocked Kate and refused to accept it as the cause.
Harry and Meghan made the wonderful announcement that their daughter Lilibet had been born on June 4, 2021. Fans of the royal family will be aware that the girl is their second child; their son, Archie, was born in 2019.
Lilibet, Princess
“It is with great joy that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, welcome their daughter, Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, to the world,” a pair representative stated at the time.
Prince William and Kate Middleton were among the other members of the royal family to congratulate Harry and Meghan on the birth of their second child. However, the relationship between the Sussexes and Waleses is now colder than it has ever been.
After her parents had already left the Royal Family, Lilibet was born in the United States. Because Lilibet would benefit from a more subdued and intimate presentation to the public, she could avoid the paparazzi press that had followed Harry and Meghan across the globe.
It took some time for Lilibet’s family in the UK to get to meet her, as the Sussexes reside in the US.
Lilibet finally saw her great-grandmother at Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee Celebration in 2022. Lilibet turned one on June 4, 2022, and her parents chose to celebrate at Frogmore Cottage, their then-UK residence.
MisanHarriman on Instagram.
On their daughter’s special day, Meghan and Harry planned a picnic in their backyard. One of the few images of Lilibet that the public has seen is the lovely photo that their friend Misan Harriman shared of the young child celebrating her birthday.
At Lilibet’s first birthday celebration, Queen Elizabeth declined to have her photo taken.
Lilibet first encountered her then-grandfather, Prince Charles, and her great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, at the picnic at Frogmore Cottage.
Although they must have both been happy to see Lilibet, no pictures of their initial meeting were released to the public. In fact, Queen Elizabeth forbade Harry and Meghan from having a photographer present, as The Sun revealed.
An insider told The Sun, “Harry and Meghan wanted their photographer to capture the moment Lilibet met the Queen.” But nobody gave them a chance. It was a private gathering with family.
The tiny child had a bloodshot eye, so the queen refused to have a picture taken with her, according to royal researcher Camilla Tominey. According to Tominey, the queen requested not to be in any pictures that would be released to the public.
Harry was said to have mentioned wanting a picture with her “at some point in the future,” according to a report that Tominey reported at the time in The Telegraph.
The queen at the time, according to royal expert Phil Dampier, had a “lack of trust” in Harry and Meghan because they had participated in the controversial Oprah Winfrey interview just a few months prior. She therefore wished to avoid having her great-granddaughter pictured.
“The Queen remained as sharp as a pin, despite her health struggles. She became aware that any photo she had taken with Lilibet might have been used for malicious purposes, Dampier told The Sun.
“I don’t believe she was overly happy that the name Lilibet was selected in the first place and was given to her as a fait accompli. Putting her foot down, she ruled against taking pictures.
A friend of Meghan Markle made fun of Kate Middleton for turning down Lilibet’s birthday invitation.
According to reports, the children of Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips were the only ones that attended the celebration. Princess Kate, Prince William, and their kids decided not to go. Things haven’t really gotten much better since then; tensions were still very high.
The official explanation for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s absence from Lilibet’s birthday celebration was that they had other obligations that day. But during the Sussexes’ visit to the UK, Christopher Andersen, a royal specialist, told Us Weekly that the future king and queen made “no effort” to introduce George, Charlotte, and Louis to Lilibet.
One of Meghan Markle’s pals was displeased when Prince William and Kate Middleton turned down the invitation to Lilibet’s first birthday picnic at Frogmore Cottage.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills actress Garcelle Beauvais discussed the absence of the now-Prince and Princess of Wales from the birthday celebration in an interview with E!.
She called Kate’s choice to skip the event “shady.”
“What’s happening is that I’m shampooing my hair and we’re out of town—what a coincidence. There is some shade there, Beauvais said to E!.
“They are unable to postpone the flight for a few hours in order to meet Lilibet and Archie?”
Family conflicts are never pleasant, and they frequently become much more complicated when children are involved.
Harry hasn’t seen his nephews and niece in a while due to the ongoing “battle of the brothers” and Harry and Meghan’s relocation to the US. Tom Quinn, a royal biographer, claims that Harry is “devastated” at the division.
Princess Lilibet turns three, and the celebration is kept low-key.
Quinn informed the Mirror, “We know that Harry’s deepest upset concerns not only his lack of relationship with George, Charlotte, and Louis, but also his own children’s lack of a relationship with their cousins.”
“Harry and Meghan would really like to find a solution to the issue. They would really like it if the cousins could get together frequently and have a good connection as they grow up, but they are unable to see how that can happen while they are still at odds. Harry expressed his wish that the cousins could maintain their friendship as adults.
Tuesday, June 4, 2024 was Lilibet’s third birthday. As previously indicated, Lilibet’s first birthday was observed in the UK. In California, her second birthday was supposedly celebrated with a “celeb-packed all-American bash,” while this year’s event is supposedly more subdued.
People Magazine stated that a “pre-birthday bash” kicked off the birthday celebrations for Lilibet. Harry, Meghan, and their kids threw a celebration in their Montecito house over the weekend to honor their daughter. “Close friends, family, and some of Lili’s friends” were among the attendees.
When Meghan Markle was in Nigeria, she shared new information on Lilibet.
Harry and Meghan have made the decision to keep their kids out of the spotlight, and they seldom ever post updates or images of Archie and Lilibet. When the kids debuted in their Netflix series in December 2022, among other things, royal fans learned that Archie spoke with an American accent.
In order to promote the Invictus Games, Harry and Meghan traveled to Nigeria for three days a few weeks ago. Meghan said that Lilibet’s “favorite class” was “singing and dancing” while visiting a school in Abuja. This was probably because to “all the jumping around.”
In addition, the Duchess conversed with a few students and gave a brief speech about her daughter.
It’s interesting to note that Lili, our daughter, is far smaller than any of you. It’s almost her third birthday. And a few weeks prior, all she would see when she gazed at me was my eye’s reflection. “Mama, I see myself in you,” she exclaimed. Meghan remarked, “Oh, now she was talking really, literally,” according to the Mirror.
But my interpretation of those words was quite different. And I realized that while I do see myself and you, and you see me and you, I also see myself in each and every one of you as I glance around this room.
Though Archie and Lilibet have remained out of the spotlight for the time being, the Sussexes may decide to change that.
People Magazine stated that a “pre-birthday bash” kicked off the birthday celebrations for Lilibet. Harry, Meghan, and their kids threw a celebration in their Montecito house over the weekend to honor their daughter. “Close friends, family, and some of Lili’s friends” were among the attendees.
When Meghan Markle was in Nigeria, she shared new information on Lilibet.
Harry and Meghan have made the decision to keep their kids out of the spotlight, and they seldom ever post updates or images of Archie and Lilibet. When the kids debuted in their Netflix series in December 2022, among other things, royal fans learned that Archie spoke with an American accent.
In order to promote the Invictus Games, Harry and Meghan traveled to Nigeria for three days a few weeks ago. Meghan said that Lilibet’s “favorite class” was “singing and dancing” while visiting a school in Abuja. This was probably because to “all the jumping around.”
In addition, the Duchess conversed with a few students and gave a brief speech about her daughter.
It’s interesting to note that Lili, our daughter, is far smaller than any of you. It’s almost her third birthday. And a few weeks prior, all she would see when she gazed at me was my eye’s reflection. “Mama, I see myself in you,” she exclaimed. Meghan remarked, “Oh, now she was talking really, literally,” according to the Mirror.
But my interpretation of those words was quite different. And I realized that while I do see myself and you, and you see me and you, I also see myself in each and every one of you as I glance around this room.
Though Archie and Lilibet have remained out of the spotlight for the time being, the Sussexes may decide to change that.
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