Craig Melvin tells grads to skip “soulless robot” advice
When it came to grad advice, NBC Today co-anchor Craig Melvin chose people over AI prompts in his commencement speech at the Villanova University.
Craig Melvin’s family is celebrating a major milestone in his mother’s breast cancer journey.
While taping the “Today” show on Monday, Aug. 17, the 47-year-old co-anchor announced that his mom, Betty Jo Melvin, “rang the bell” to celebrate the end of her cancer treatment. He shared the news after Jenna Bush Hager’s “Morning Boost” segment featured a woman’s granddaughter surprising her on the woman’s final day of chemotherapy.
“Oh Craig, you have the Monday feels over there!” Bush Hager said after the clip was played.
USA TODAY has reached out to a “Today” representative for more information.
Betty Jo Melvin was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2025 after undergoing a routine annual mammogram; she told WIS News 10 in an August 2025 appearance on the news station.
Betty Jo Melvin ‘speechless’ after receiving cancer diagnosis following routine mammogram
“When I got the phone call, I was speechless,” Betty Jo Melvin told anchor Judi Gatson on Aug. 15, 2025. “She gave me a few minutes, and she said, ‘You probably need to go talk to your family and talk with me as soon as you can.'”
“I lost my granddaughter to cancer, children’s cancer. I lost my son to colon cancer about five years ago. So to tell them ‘Your mom has been diagnosed with breast cancer,’ it was hard,” she added. “It took me several hours before I could call [her sons] and let them know.”
The early detection helped with the “great” prognosis from her medical team. Mary Jo Melvin underwent surgery in early July and was scheduled to begin radiation “in a couple weeks.” Afterward, she would undergo chemotherapy “for a while,” she said.
The Affordable Care Act mandates that most insurance companies cover annual screening mammograms for those 40 and older. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends mammogram screenings every other year from ages 40 to 74 for those with an “average” risk for breast cancer.
The National Cancer Institute makes available a Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool, which “allows health professionals to estimate a woman’s risk of developing invasive breast cancer over the next five years and up to age 90 (lifetime risk).”
Who is Craig Melvin’s mother, Betty Jo Melvin?
Craig Melvin, who has described his mother as “the rock of our family” who “sacrificed her entire life so those around her can live better,” has brought his parents to the Rockefeller Center studio before.
His parents stopped by for his first broadcast as a co-anchor in January 2025 and congratulated him on the new role as Craig Melvin continuously wiped away tears.
“I have butterflies in my stomach today,” Betty Jo Melvin said Jan. 13. “You’re not going to disappoint anybody if it’s not the top, but do your very best. And he has proven to me and everybody else that he has done his very best, and he deserves this. We love you.”
Dad Lawrence Melvin – from whom Craig Melvin was previously estranged, until his father became sober – recalled how his son would come home from school and report on the day because “he always had something to say.”
In December 2025, Craig Melvin did a Southern Living feature with his mother, who opened up about how she decorates her home in Columbia, South Carolina, for Christmas.
Betty Jo Melvin was the first in her family to graduate from college and eventually earned her master’s degree, according to Today.com. She was a teacher before she pivoted to working as a bank teller.