‘GMA’ Staffers ‘Relieved’ by Lara Spencer’s Diminished Role

Another morning show shakeup is underway, this time at ABC‘s Good Morning America. While Robin Roberts, Michael Strahan and George Stephanopoulos will remain the show’s core three, Lara Spencer’s role is being cut back, a move that has staffers “relieved.”

“Staff are relieved that Lara’s schedule is being cut back,” an industry insider told Page Six on Monday. “She treats staff badly, she yells at people and she makes a lot of extra work for people.”

“Lara’s good at her job, but it’s not like the [ratings] are affected when she’s not on [the show],” an insider added.

A GMA representative called the idea that Spencer is not a good person to work with is false.

“This is ridiculous. She is the ultimate team player,” the GMA rep said. “Lara decided to cut back her hours on GMA to focus on her production company.”

The shake-up started when an insider told PEOPLE over the weekend that Spencer was going to dial down her appearances on the morning show to focus on her lifestyle brand and her DuffKat Media production company. She also has a wedding to plan and two teenage children to take care of.

“Lara loves working at GMA and she will continue to join the GMA desk on select mornings each week and contribute to special assignment reporting so she can continue building her lifestyle brand and work on all the TV shows for her production company,” the insider told PEOPLE. “She knows she can’t balance GMA, all her upcoming television shows and DuffKat while also finding time for her family. Not to mention, she’s in the midst of planning a wedding!”

On Monday morning, Page Six reported that ABC News will soon announce that GMA news anchor Amy Robach will be part of the GMA shake-up, moving to the primetime newsmagazine 20/20 while also covering breaking news and major events for the morning show.

Page Six later reported that Spencer will only be on GMA three days a week instead of five after she signs a new contract.

“The new schedule is a win for her and for GMA,” a source told Page Six. “She’s still a key part of the show, and she has more flexibility. She’s been telling people about it for a couple of weeks at least.”

Outside of GMA, Spencer is building her own media empire. Duffkat productions include HGTV’s Flea Market Flip, Cooking and Channel’s Farmers Market Flip. She also got engaged to Rick McVey in early January and has two teen daughters from her previous marriage.

In an interview with The Wrap last year, Spencer hinted that her GMA commitments have made it tough to also produce shows on the side.

“I love being part of the GMA family so much but making and creating content has been a passion of mine for a really long time,” Spencer said in May 2017. “It’s all about really being organized and one step ahead. Today I did GMA, came back [home] to Connecticut and went directly to the workshop for Flea Market Flip and shot that. I could never do all these things if I didn’t have the support around me.”

Photo credit: ABC/Lou Rocco