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When Craig Melvin was announced as Hoda Kotb‘s replacement on Today show for 2025, curator Savannah Guthrie and the entire NBC family was quick to celebrate the news.
Kotb herself told Melvin at the time, who has been with NBC since 2011 and joined Today as a weekday news anchor in 2018 – was “made for the job” and added, “You are so good. You have all the things this job needs. You’re the one for that.”
Melvin’s family outside of work has been just as supportive.
“My heart is honestly breaking. Craig Melvin – I’m so proud of you and beyond grateful for the man you are,” his wife, Lindsay Czarniakwrote over Instagram in November 2024, shortly after news of his new gig fell apart. “The opportunity to watch the person you love achieve their dream is such a gift. I will never forget this day and the enthusiasm of the crowds to share your good news.”
Melvin and Czarniak met in 2008 and tied the knot three years later. The couple share a son, Delan, and a daughter, Sybil, born in 2014 and 2016, respectively. Melvin’s relationship with children was shaped by his own upbringing, from his hard-working and supportive mother to his father, who struggled with addiction, but is now one of the most important figures in his life.
Melvin is joined by his wife, children, parents and younger brother during his first episode Todaynew coach in January 2025.
Keep scrolling to meet all of Melvin’s family, including his wife, kids, parents, and more.
Melvin and Czarniak met when they were both working in the news industry in Washington, D.C. After more than a year of friendship, Melvin finally asked her out in July 2009.
“Something clicked the night we met. And it wasn’t necessarily that I knew, ‘I have to be with this guy.’ But it was like, ‘I don’t want to be with anybody else that I’ve been dating,'” Czarniak recalled. The Washington Post in 2011.
Three years after tying the knot, Melvin and Czarniak welcomed son Delan in March 2014 and daughter Sybil in November 2016. On Father’s Day 2024, Czarniak said her husband “crushes the role of fatherhood despite the wildest daily schedule” in an Instagram post.
Czarniak currently works for Fox as an NFL and NASCAR reporter. She previously anchored SportsCenter on ESPN, covering everything from the Olympics to the Daytona 500.
Melvin credits his son with inspiring his latest children’s book, I’m Proud of You, which was released in May 2024.
“A few years ago I found myself marveling at the Delano on a big dive,” he said Good housekeeping at that time. “He was trying to overcome his fear and jump for the first time. When he did it, I saw how proud he was and how proud me and my wife were, and I thought, ‘we should document this’.”
On the day Delano turned 10, Melvin and Czarniak honored him together Instagram post.
“In the blink of an eye, our little boy went from being the baby that made us parents to a fun-loving, nurturing 10-year-old that we adore,” they wrote. “I think one of the most amazing things is when you find yourself really enjoying the time you spend together as they grow, experiencing the things they love and seeing it all through their eyes.”
Melvin said People that Delano played a role in naming his younger sister. While Cznarniak was pregnant with her, the family referred to the child as “Sibby”, for younger sibling Delano. The family soon liked the name and it was transformed into Sibyl.
Melvin and Czarniak described their youngest as an athlete and “the life of the party.” Hello magazine. Melvin added that Sybil’s self-confidence, even at eight years old, “blows him away”.
Craig and his father Lawrence had a complicated history. In his book “POPS: Learning to be a Son and A Father” released in 2021, the host spoke openly about his father’s struggles with addiction. nicknamed “Ghost” among Craig’s friends.
“That nickname really pissed me off,” Craig wrote. “Most of my other friends, their fathers, were present. I wrote mine off. It got to the point where I thought, ‘Damn, to hell. I have a dad, but I don’t really have a dad.” He was like a ghost: there, but not there.”
Today, their relationship is different as Lawrence is “PopPop” to Delano and Sibyl.
“He’s overcome addictions in his life,” Craig said in the November 2024 episode Today. “He became one of my favorite human beings.
After writing POP, Craig said he felt guilty for not including his mother in the title when she was the most consistent figure in his life.
“The reality is, she’s been playing Mom and Pops for most of my life,” he said. “And here I have written over 200 pages celebrating fatherhood and celebrating my dad climbing this mountain. And the reality is that I wouldn’t be where I am professionally and personally if it weren’t for my mother.”
Betty was the first in the Craig family to graduate from college and later worked as a teacher, then a bank teller. At a time when Lawrence was struggling the most, spending money on drugs, alcohol and gambling, Betty Jo earned a master’s degree and took a second job to help make ends meet.
Craig’s older brother Lawerence died in 2020 aged 43 after a four-year battle with colon cancer. Lawrence was a minister who co-owned a funeral home in South Carolina and earned a master’s degree in divinity and a doctorate in ministry from Gardner-Webb University.
After his brother’s death, Craig teamed up with the Colorectal Cancer Alliance to raise money for colon cancer research and support the family.
“The reality is, if Lawrence had been checked earlier, he could still be with us,” Craig said People. “But we didn’t know about our family history and there were signs he ignored.
Craig’s younger brother joined Today she has anchored on television several times, including in 2022 when Ryan learned to swim at the age of 36 to promote the importance of being comfortable in the water. Ryan also left Today When he underwent a colonoscopy in 2021 to raise awareness of the procedure after losing his older brother to colon cancer.