Don’t become the story.

That’s an adage in the news business that most journalists try to live by, even in a time that rewards self-promotion. And it’s a rule that Megyn Kelly flouted again and again.

While this tendency was not much of a factor in her previous job, as a prime-time anchor at Fox News, it created complications during her 18-month stint at NBC.

The network canceled her show, “Megyn Kelly Today,” days after she suggested on air that dressing up in blackface for Halloween was appropriate for white people. Ms. Kelly’s comments, and the uproar that followed, felt familiar to many fans and critics.

[NBC and Megyn Kelly part ways with the full $69 million from her contract.]

Those who become stars at major broadcast networks have a rare talent for being interesting and innocuous at the same time. Ms. Kelly, a former corporate lawyer who made her name as a sometimes confrontational interviewer, struggled to walk that line.