Janai Norman, the former co-anchor of “Good Morning America Weekend,” has moved to South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province with her husband, Eli, and their three children, months after her contract with ABC News was not renewed.
Norman revealed the relocation in a series of Instagram Stories posted on Friday. She did not say exactly where in KwaZulu-Natal the family has settled, but shared images and video that suggested life in a coastal, palm-lined setting, including a clip of monkeys near a road.
“And speaking of breaking, have I mentioned my family is taking a break from the US?” she wrote over a photo of a street overlooking the water. In a separate post she joked, “And now we see monkeys all the time.”
Norman was born in South Africa and raised in DeKalb, Illinois. Her move comes as she prepares to publish a memoir titled “Breaking,” which she has been promoting heavily on social media. “Less than two months out from publication, forcing myself to post daily for 60 days and make use of stories,” she wrote, urging followers to pre-order the book.
An abrupt exit from ABC
Norman’s departure from “GMA Weekend” became public in April, when ABC News, which is owned by Disney, declined to renew her contract. She had anchored the weekend edition since 2022 and had worked at ABC News since 2016, after first joining the network as an intern with NewsOne in 2011.
At the time, Norman addressed the sudden end of her run in a video posted to X.
“I’d hoped that we’d have more time. It’s been hard on me that our time was cut short. I have loved my job,” she said. “So, it really breaks my heart that I don’t get to say goodbye. I’m so sorry that I don’t get to say goodbye. It would have been fun.”
She later unfollowed “GMA” on social media. According to a report from Status in August, Norman had reportedly clashed with colleagues and was described as “not well-liked” by network executives.
Criticism of ABC’s coverage
Since leaving the network, Norman has publicly criticised some of ABC’s reporting. In July, she took aim at Michael Strahan’s interview with the parents of Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old found dead after a boating trip in Mississippi, accusing the network of becoming “complicit in upholding white supremacy.”
“Bless Michael, ’cause he had it right the first time. The question should have been, ‘Do you believe that?’ Not asking these grieving parents to defend a decision that we don’t even know for certain their deceased son made,” she said in an Instagram video. “That was not an objective question. Subjectively, I would say that it was insensitive.”
Norman had listed her six-bedroom home in Montclair, New Jersey, for sale earlier this year. The asking price has since been reduced from $3.2 million to $3 million.
