Steve Kmetko Michael Tullberg/Getty Images
Former E! News reporter Steve Kmetko disappeared from the spotlight after he was fired from the show in 2002 — but what happened to the former news anchor?
“I was asked to leave Hollywood 20 years ago. Let’s just say it wasn’t my choice,” Kmetko, 71, shared on a recent episode of his “Still Here Hollywood” podcast. “To say that my life has been a struggle after leaving the red carpets and anchor chair would be overstating things.”
In 2002, Kmetko was a host as E!, and it was time for a contract negotiation.
“At the time, I told everybody I had the best job there was; I really loved that job,” he recalled. “I put on [my website], ‘To the viewers out there, if you like my work and want to see me continue, I’d appreciate you writing to management and saying, ‘We like Steve.’”
Kmetko claimed that “management didn’t like that” and he was confronted about where that message was typed. He said it was not shared from a work computer — something he couldn’t remember at the time. When it was later revealed that Kmetko had shared the message from a computer at work, they said he was “in violation of something” — later revealed to be “intellectual property.”
Management claimed they couldn’t have “a newsman” who would lie. “One way or another I felt they were looking to get rid of me, Kmetko continued, recalling that his manager was “asking for $1 million a year” on his behalf.
Steve Kmetko Michael Buckner/Getty Images for Columbia College Chicago
Kmetko was hired as the E! News anchor in 1994, cohosting the show until his firing. After parting ways with the network, Kmetko attempted to get work at other outlets but was shut down.
“I could never understand why I couldn’t do the same job someplace else, but maybe that was just an excuse I was being given,” he said. “Hollywood is rich with excuses.”
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After Kmetko was told he passed his “sell-by date,” the anchor moved back to his native Chicago where he worked at an Apple Store and started “self-medicating” with drugs and alcohol. (Kmetko is currently sober.)
“To this day, I leave my TV on all night long because if I wake up in the middle of the night and there’s no sound, my head starts going,” he admitted, before discussing what it was like to suffer from a stroke in recent years.
Kmetko said a doctor told him that he’s “lucky” to be alive and overall, the anchor is happy to be back in Hollywood. “I’m glad to be here,” he said.
