{"id":333047,"date":"2025-12-06T01:18:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T01:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/333047\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T01:18:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T01:18:08","slug":"exclusive-dan-wakeford-out-as-eic-of-celeb-gossip-mag-us-weekly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/333047\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive | Dan Wakeford out as EIC of celeb gossip mag Us Weekly"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dan Wakeford is out as editor in chief of low-rent celebrity gossip magazine Us Weekly, according to a leaked memo obtained by The Post.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/03\/12\/media\/dan-wakeford-named-us-weekly-editor-in-chief-after-stint-at-the-messenger\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The 50-year-old former People boss<\/a> announced his departure from the publication in an email to staffers on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter much consideration, I have chosen to leave my position as editor-in-chief of Us Weekly to develop my own creative projects in film and books,\u201d he wrote. \u201cMy last day will be January 9, 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"37856925\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/dan-wakeford-wednesday-april-24-116818584.jpg\" alt=\"Dan Wakeford smiling in a black suit and patterned tie.\" class=\"wp-image-37856925\"  \/>Wakeford said he planned to contribute to special projects with the magazine. NBCU Photo Bank\/NBCUniversal via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>But Wakeford hinted that next year his byline could still appear in the publication, which claimed a combined print and digital circulation of 2 million last year, <a href=\"https:\/\/pressgazette.co.uk\/media-audience-and-business-data\/media_metrics\/us-magazine-circulations-2024\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-nyp-affiliate=\"true\">according to data from the Alliance for Audited Media.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn 2026, I look forward to contributing to Us Weekly on special projects,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Us Weekly insiders told The Post that Wakeford has been \u201cforced out\u201d because he had failed to land headline-grabbing exclusives with top Hollywood stars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe promised them big people like Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston,\u201d said one source. \u201cBut he delivered Sandra Lee and Countess Luann.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The top story on Us Weekly\u2019s website on Friday evening was an exclusive about how \u201cLove Is Blind\u201d star Alexa Lemieux \u201cfired back\u201d at claims made by her estranged husband, Brennon Lemieux, in a divorce filing.<\/p>\n<p>A separate source also claimed that Wakeford was rarely in the office, choosing instead to work remotely.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.738;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"37856516\" width=\"435\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/royal-wedding-covers-business-us-22482448.jpg\" alt=\"US Weekly magazine cover featuring a photo of Prince Harry kissing Meghan Markle on their wedding day, with smaller photos of Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, and Brad Pitt.\" class=\"wp-image-37856516\"  \/>Insiders told The Post that recent Us Weekly covers under Wakeford\u2019s leadership lacked the star quality of previous editions. This is an issue from 2018 after Britain\u2019s Prince Harry married Meghan Markle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was not really very hands-on,\u201d the source told The Post. \u201cHe was never there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The claim echoed an <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/01\/31\/media\/the-messenger-will-shut-down-after-less-than-a-year\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">exclusive story<\/a> by The Post last year when Wakeford had a stint as the editor-in-chief of the ill-fated media start-up, the Messenger.<\/p>\n<p>While he had a whopping $900,000 annual salary, sources told The Post at the time, the site shuttered just nine months after its launch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople did not know he was British,\u201d a Messenger staffer said, adding that the first time they heard Wakeford speak was during an emergency meeting shortly before the c<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/01\/31\/media\/the-messenger-will-shut-down-after-less-than-a-year\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ompany was shuttered in late January 2024.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Wakeford got his latest gig in March.<\/p>\n<p>The entertainment mag, which is based in New York City, was founded as Us, a bi-weekly, in 1977 by the New York Times Company, which sold it in 1980.<\/p>\n<p>It has changed hands multiple times since then, becoming part of the McClathy Media Company that owns the Miami Herald in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>The Post has approached a McClatchy spokesperson for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dan Wakeford is out as editor in chief of low-rent celebrity gossip magazine Us Weekly, according to a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[28,236,2865,88,10815,168443,168444],"class_list":{"0":"post-333047","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-celebrity-couples","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-media","13":"tag-positive-celebrity-gossip","14":"tag-us-weekly"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}