The longtime anchor broke the news on air on Monday.
Brooke Baldwin is leaving CNN.
The longtime anchor announced live on air on Monday that she intends to leave the network by mid-April, sharing that the next chapter of her life will be focused on what she loves most -- "amplifying the lives of extraordinary Americans, and putting my passion for storytelling to good use."
"After most of my 20s, working my way up in local news, I came to this network in 2008, in the midst of The Great Recession, as a freelancer," she recalled. "I remember I scribbled my name on a Post-It note and stuck it outside this temporary office, determined to fulfill my dream of becoming a full-time CNN correspondent. I wanted to be part of the best of the best in cable news and journalism, and, as a native Atlantan, this would be my hometown team."
"Little did I know that I would not only go on to fulfill that dream, I would flourish in this environment and land my own two-hour show in the afternoon at the age of 31, for a decade," she added. "I have never taken for granted the enormous responsibility and privilege I've had to work with some of the most talented producers and photojournalists, and correspondents and anchors out there, as we have covered our eras most urgent and important stories. Conflicts, terrorism, environmental and natural disasters. The wrath of gun violence, human interest stories, royal weddings, my American Woman series. The social justice movements that define our culture and a pandemic that changed the world, and politics. Lots of politics. You have been here with me every step of the way."
Baldwin continued on, telling viewers that "there is just more I need to do… outside of the walls of this place."
"For the last two years I've been working on my first book. It's called Huddle: How Women Unlock Their Collective Power," she shared. "And, yep, we are still in a pandemic. No, I don't have a job I'm jumping right into. Yes, I'm feeling very vulnerable."
"But what is it Brené Brown says? 'Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change,'" she continued. "And I am so excited about what is to come."
Watch her full announcement below:
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