A day after Elisabeth Hasselbeck announced that she would be stepping down as Fox & Friends co-host, she took a few minutes on Tuesday’s edition of the Fox News morning show to talk about her decision.
An emotional Hasselbeck said that she will be leaving the show in “about a month” for a “new position as CBO, Chief Breakfast Officer,” with her family.
Indeed, Hasselbeck said in a statement Monday, “I am entering into a season where I want to start my day with my children first.”
Appearing to fight back tears and sounding as though her voice was breaking, Hasselbeck said, “Outside of today and my last day, I will declare the time a no-cry zone, but I will permit emotion to run where it is permitted to run.”
She also elaborated on how it was a difficult decision to step away from her role at Fox News to raise her family and praised Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes.
“This is a decision I’m making and I feel the peace of God about it. I’m in a season where the kids need the best of me, not the rest of me,” Hasselbeck said.
She added: “I’m going to spend this time with the kids in the mornings, start their day off right … Mornings at home, right now, in our lives, are better with mommy … I pray that God will be with me in this decision. I trust that he is going to light this path. And I am so blessed and thankful to have had this opportunity … This is a really, really hard decision, but I know it’s the right one.”
She said that her choice was especially difficult because she so enjoys working for Fox News, calling her time on Fox & Friends, where she’s been a co-host since 2013,”the very best work experience of my entire life.”
“I have fallen head over heels in love with this place. This is my family here,” she said.
As for Ailes, Hasselbeck called him “the best boss in the business, the most powerful man in the business … wise and so effective and the best leader I have known. But also the most kind, thoughtful and supportive boss that I’ve known as he walked me through this decision-making, which wasn’t easy.”
“I pray that my kids and my daughter as a working woman … would have the honor of working for someone like him, who understands a working mom’s heart,” she said.
Ailes said in a statement Monday, “Elisabeth and I discussed this at length over several weeks, and while I would love for her to continue here, I respect her incredibly difficult, yet deeply personal decision.”
Hasselbeck joined the cable news channel after several years as a panelist on ABC’s The View. A rotating group of co-hosts will take Hasselbeck’s place until a permanent replacement is named.
Watch Hasselbeck’s tearful comments Tuesday morning in the video below.
