Christiane Amanpour is calling it a career at CNN after 43 years, announcing her departure from the network she’s called home since before half of America was born. The 68-year-old anchor said she’ll wind things down gradually, scaling her daily CNN International show, “Amanpour,” back to once a week at the start of 2027 before ending it entirely at the end of May. She leaves the network the following month.
She’s also pulling the plug on her PBS program, “Amanpour and Company,” at the end of the year. The one thing she’s keeping? A podcast called “The Ex Files,” which she co-hosts with her ex-husband, Jamie Rubin, a former U.S. diplomat. Nothing says modern media quite like staying professionally partnered with your ex while walking out the door of a 43-year relationship.
Amanpour released a statement explaining her decision, and she was nothing if not dramatic about it. “After many months of thought and a few sleepless nights, I have decided to separate from CNN, my partner of 43 fantastic years!” she said. She added that she would “always be rooting for CNN and maintaining its history of independent journalism,” signing off with a line that’ll have CNN fans framing it on their walls: “Remember: always be truthful, not neutral.” Subtle distinction there from a network that spent years telling you it was the most trusted name in news, right before losing to reruns in the ratings.
For more on Amanpour’s CNN departure, Fox8 has the full story.
Her exit lands right as CNN is going through some major upheaval. Skydance-owned Paramount closed an $81 billion buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery on October 6, a deal that now puts CBS and CNN under the same roof. New ownership, new era, and apparently, no Amanpour. Whether the new bosses and the longtime anchor saw things differently or this is purely her own choice, she says she looks forward to “interesting new projects down the line.”
On a more serious note, Amanpour has been open about her 2021 diagnosis of ovarian cancer and its later recurrence, describing it as “the invisible killer.” She’s encouraged people to “get all the scans that you can,” and that message deserves to be heard loud and clear. Whatever you think of CNN, that’s a cause worth amplifying.
So what’s next? Amanpour rides off into the podcasting sunset, CNN figures out what it is under new ownership, and the mainstream media loses one of its most recognizable faces. The network that spent years lecturing America about truth and neutrality, apparently those two things being totally compatible, now has to figure out its next chapter without her. Forty-three years is a long run. The retirement party must be awkward when your ex is co-hosting your podcast.
