Michelle Beadle didn’t miss an ounce of sleep over her decision to leave ESPN in 2019.
The former “NBA Countdown” host was a guest on “The Ariel Helwani Show” last week, and explained she was at peace with walking away from her “dream job” two years ago.
“I think because I did what I did and I reached what I wanted to reach and I was financially good. I think all of that combined really let me relax because I had worked so hard for so many years … I had never really taken a ‘break break’ from it,” Beadle said.
“I didn’t care if I was seen again because it was on my own terms. Had I been fired or had it been just a little bit different of an ending, maybe I would have been a little more angry or a little more feeling I have to get out there.”
Beadle’s exit in 2019 marked her second time leaving the network. When she first left for NBC in 2012, Beadle said that ESPN gave her an emotional, grand exit.
But the second time around, when she hosted the morning show, “Get Up” (before Mike Greenberg), it was “a completely different animal,” she said. There were no celebrations or on-air tributes.
“It was like a breakup. When you break up, you walk away cool. You have a clean conscience, you’re like I did what I did, said what I said. It was my dream job for a while and I did it. It was good,” Beadle said. “I know we did a good show and I rest thinking that. It was almost the best-case scenario for leaving something like that rather than jumping back into something that you didn’t want to do.”
When Beadle left ESPN in the summer of 2019, the network bought out her $5 million per year contract.
In October, the Spurs announced that Beadle will join their broadcast team as a “special correspondent” for the 2021-22 NBA season. She also has her own podcast, “What Did I Miss?” with the The Athletic.