Who Is Craig Melvin's Wife? All About Sports Reporter Lindsay Czarniak

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo: Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty

The pair, now broadcasters for different networks, got married in 2011 and are parents totwo children, sonDelanoand daughterSybil.

“We make it work and it’s been very, very helpful to have someone whounderstands crazy hours,” Czarniak told PEOPLE of their busy lives.

Life might get even busier for Melvin now that he has begun his new job asHoda Kotb’spermanent replacement on theTodayshow. Melvin’s first day as co-anchor alongsideSavannah Guthriewas Jan. 13.

Czarniak was there to support Melvin on his first day onToday,surprising him on the showwith both of their children. On stage, she admitted that seeing her husband in his new role was “surreal.”

“What makes me so proudis just the person that Melvin is,” she said. “And understanding that it’s the kindness and how genuine he is … we’re just excited and pumped.”

So who is Craig Melvin’s wife? Here’s everything to know about Lindsay Czarniak and her relationship with theTodayco-anchor.

They started off as friends and colleagues

Nathan Congleton/NBC/Getty

According toThe Washington Post, Czarniak, a sports journalist for WRC at the time, was away on assignment covering the 2008 Olympics in Beijing when Melvin joined the network as a news anchor. Upon return, she introduced herself to her new colleague during a commercial break.

After becoming friends and casually hanging out for a few months, Melvin asked her out for drinks. Czarniak was reluctant to get into a relationship with a colleague but agreed to meet up.

“That night when we met, there was something that clicked. And it wasn’t necessarily that I knew, ‘I have to be with this guy.’ But it was like, ‘I don’t want to be with anyone else that I’d hung out with,’ " she told the newspaper. “It felt like being with the person that really gets you and that you’ve known for a really, really long time.”

After keeping their relationship under wraps for a few months, the couplegot engagedduring a trip to Miami, Florida, in 2011.

She married Melvin in 2011

Leigh Vogel/Getty

On Oct. 15, 2011, Melvin and Czarniak wed at the Church of the Holy City in Washington, D.C. According toThe Washington Post, many of the couple’s colleagues from WRC, where they met, were in attendance.

She’s a mother to two children

Lindsay Czarniak Instagram

The couple frequently posts about their children, including when they took them to the 2023 Super Bowl.

“The lasting image, for me, will be theconfetti raining downand just watching my son be so happy and also my daughter just getting into it, because they’re only at that age once, and so to have this kind of experience with them, it’s just awesome,” Czarniak told PEOPLE.

She lives in Connecticut with her husband and children

Paul Costello

Even though Czarniak travels across the world to cover sports, her home base is in the suburbs of Connecticut, where she spends downtime with her family.

“I said, ‘Where I’m from you put wallpaper on the walls,'” Melvin shared. “Then she did it, and we were like, ‘Wow, okay.’ "

“These days, it’s the only place in the house where you can occasionally find 45 seconds of almost quiet,” he joked.

She’s a sports reporter for Fox Sports

Czarniak is a FOX NFL and FOX NASCAR reporter for FOX Sports. According to herbio, she has been with the network since 2019.

“I really just love the opportunity to share what’s going on, andtalk about a game, and cover a game, but also let people understand the context behind it,” she told PEOPLE.

Previously, she worked at ESPN from 2011 to 2017, anchoringSportsCenter,SportsNationandNASCAR Now. During her time there, she became the first woman to host the network’s coverage of the Indianapolis 500 on ABC.

She has her husband stored in her phone under a different name

Ethan Miller/Getty

While appearing on anepisode ofTodayalongside her husband in 2021, Czarniak revealed that Melvin is listed in her phone under a different name: “Jake Milstein.”

“So when (Craig) called me, it came up in my phone, which was also a station phone, as Jake Milstein,” she shared. “So when he calls me, it pops up as Jake Milstein, and it’s become a thing where I see it, and it’s him.”

Melvin has remained under the alias in her phone for over a decade.

She has acted in films

Cindy Ord/Getty

Czarniak enjoys being on camera both as a journalist and an actress. Minoring in studio art during her time at James Madison University, Czarniak toldWashington Life Magazine, “I love theater and one of my favorite things is going to movies and concerts. I could spend all day at a movie theater, especially if scary movies are playing.”

She followed her passion and appeared in the 2000 action filmAquarius, and a decade later, starred in the horror filmGhosts Don’t Exist, playing the role of a news reporter. The latter also featured previous Washington Commanders tight endChris Cooleyand won the DC Filmmaker Award at the 2010DC Independent Film Festival.

She’s a minority interest owner in a thoroughbred racehorse

In March 2023, as part of a new business venture, Czarniak joined the cast of the second season of America’s Best Racing’sA Stake in Stardom, becoming a minority interest racehorse owner in partnership with West Point Thoroughbreds and Final Furlong Racing Stable.

Czarniak and NFL Network InsiderIan Rapoportinvested in a 4-year-old thoroughbred racehorse namedParnac, who has three wins from seven career races.

She is cheering him on in his new role as aTodayco-anchor

Allison Michael Orenstein

Melvin began his hosting gig onTodayin January 2025, and Czarniak and their children were in the studio, cheering him on.

Talking to PEOPLE about his new role,Melvin said that while he was “nervous,” he was also just as excited about the opportunity as he was about marrying his wife.

“I’m anxious but at the same time, it’s the first time I’ve been this excited about anything outside theday I got marriedand the birth of my two children,” he said. “I am beyond stoked.”

He went on to call marrying Czarniak the “best thing that’s ever happened to me personally and professionally.”

He added, “She doesn’t just get me as a person, as a husband — she understands the business.”

source: people.com