Craig Melvin might miss his kids’ wake-up time as he heads off early to Studio 1A to host the Today Show, but he’s just proven he’s every bit the devoted dad – and thanks to FaceTime, he’s always just a call away.
The NBC anchor's behind-the-scenes behaviour on the show was revealed via an Instagram video on Tuesday. The short clip captures Craig facetimings his kids during the commercial break. Blissfully unaware that he was being filmed, the star chatted away to his children in the short amount of time he had to catch up with them.
© NBCThe post was captioned: "Dad mode activated."
The Today host and his wife Lindsay Czarniak met while both working at NBC Washington, with Craig enlisted as a news anchor in 2008 and Lindsay boasting the title of sports anchor. The pair tied the knot in 2011 before welcoming their son, Delano, in 2014, and their daughter, Sybil, in 2016.
Craig has been open about parenthood in the past and even published a children's book last year titled I'm Proud of You.
© Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty IThe NBC anchor spoke to Garden & Gun about the venture. "I didn’t even realize some of the emotions I'm capable of having until I had my own children. I wanted to write a book that helped all the dads out there. It's a love letter to fatherhood," he said.
Craig's relationship with his father
There's no doubt the star makes a conscious effort to stay present in his children's lives – perhaps shaped by his own complicated relationship with his father, Lawrence Melvin. Craig opened up about his upbringing in an interview with Garden and Gun, sharing details about his once-strained relationship with his father.
"We’re all broken in some way," he admitted. "Some people are better at masking it than others, but we’re all just walking around broken."
© NBCIn 2018, following a family-led intervention, Lawrence Melvin entered treatment for alcoholism – a turning point that led to lasting sobriety. Since then, he’s been fully present in the lives of his wife, children, and grandchildren for the first time. "You can’t undo the things you missed out on," Lawrence once shared with his son, Craig. "You just have to try to better yourself, to do better."
Back in January, Craig honoured his parents when he earned his new job on the Today Show. "They believed in me long before anyone else," Craig told People "with tear in his eyes" of his parents Betty Jo and Lawrence. "I didn’t fully appreciate how much they had sacrificed over the years."
"Without them and the sacrifices they made when I was a kid, I’m not here," he said.
