When Vanna White first appeared on Wheel of Fortune as the young letter-turner standing in front of the Big Board more than 40 years ago, there’s no way she could have predicted the job would end up defining her whole career. There’s proof, too, that she worried just how far the game show would take her. An old TV Guide interview has resurfaced, in which White discussed the possibility that her 15 minutes of fame could come to an abrupt end, and she worried that she may never work again post-Wheel of Fortune.
It’s almost laughable now to look back at Vanna White’s interview from March 4, 1989, and see the 32-year-old hustling to make sure she’d be OK if Wheel of Fortune got canceled or they simply stopped calling her. The job was such a dream, she said back then, she was terrified of waking up and having it be over. She continued (via TV Insider):
You never get over that. This business is very fickle. You never know from day to day if the audience is going to follow you or not. What happens after Wheel? I may never work again. That’s why I’ve tried to develop myself in other areas, like the clothing line. I’m just so afraid that tomorrow the phone’s not going to ring. I know that day will come, and it’s scary. So that’s why it’s hard to say no.
That interview was done six years into Vanna White’s now-four-decade career on Wheel of Fortune, but nothing she said there was false. The entertainment industry is fickle, and the day will still come when she’ll have to figure out what, if anything, comes next. It’s crazy to think that 35 years have passed since this interview, and the circumstances she describes haven’t yet presented themselves.
As hard as it apparently was for her to say no to other opportunities — especially if those other jobs would have taken her away from one of the best game shows of all time — she definitely made the right decision in sticking beside Pat Sajak. Now it’s less a question of IF the 67-year-old will ever work again after she leaves Wheel of Fortune and more about if she WANTS to keep working, because she certainly shouldn’t need to.
It’s safe to say that the majority of Vanna White’s time on Wheel of Fortune is behind her, and there’s already speculation about who might replace her in front of the Big Board when the time comes. She’s even admitted that she considered retiring at the same time as Pat Sajak, who is set to make his final appearance on the Season 41 finale on Friday, June 7.
However, when Season 42 premieres on the 2024 TV schedule this September with Ryan Seacrest holding the reins, Vanna White will be right there beside him, at least for a couple of years. The co-host renegotiated her contract in fall 2023 to appear through the 2025-26 season. The rest remains unknown. What happens after Wheel of Fortune? Will she ever work again? Thirty-five years after that TV Guide interview, White still knows that day will come.