Vanna White Opens Up About Life After Pat Sajak’s Wheel of Fortune Farewell: “He’s Still in My Life”

It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a year since Pat Sajak said his emotional goodbye to Wheel of Fortune. For more than four decades, Sajak was a fixture on television screens across America — and for nearly all of that time, Vanna White was right there by his side, flipping letters, sharing laughs, and building a bond that went far beyond the cameras.
Now, nearly a year later, White is opening up about what life looks like without Sajak on set — and it turns out, not much has changed between them off-screen.
“I still see him! We’re friends,” White shared with TV Insider in an interview published April 24. She added that they even get together for dinners now and then, something that keeps their friendship as strong as ever. “Yeah,” she said, with an assuring smile, “he’s still in my life.”
White, who first joined Wheel of Fortune in 1982, just a year after Sajak took over hosting duties, said that whenever they reconnect, it’s like no time has passed at all.
“It’s like slipping into something very comfortable,” she explained, her words carrying the kind of warmth that can only come from decades of true friendship. “I mean that in the best possible way. It’s just… comfortable.”
But White didn’t pretend the transition was easy. She admitted that when Sajak first left the show in June 2024, it was a tough adjustment.
“It was sad for me in a way because [at the time] I didn’t know what the future held,” she said honestly. “It was ending an unbelievable era.”
Of course, Wheel of Fortune has since entered a new chapter with Ryan Seacrest stepping in as host in September 2024. White had nothing but kind words for her new co-host, praising how naturally Seacrest approached the role. “He took the right approach,” she said, adding that his respect for the show’s history — and its audience — has truly paid off.