Thousands cheered as a teary-eyed Elisabeth Hasselbeck announced that she is leaving Fox News by the end of the year.
Fox News announced on Monday that Fox & Friends co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck will be leaving the network by the end of the year.
Hasselbeck praised Fox News in a statement, saying that “Oftentimes, the most difficult decisions are between two great things.”
Throughout my 14 years working in television, I have never experienced a more positive and thoughtful atmosphere than FOX News Channel, thanks to the strong leadership of (FOX News Chairman & CEO) Roger Ailes, who has created the best working environment a woman and mother could ask for.
On Tuesday, a teary Elisabeth Hasselbeck addressed the Fox & Friends audience, telling them that she is putting her career on hold while she raises her three children.
“I am taking a new position as CBO – chief breakfast officer – at our house with the kids, and that does mean that in about a month, I’ll be leaving my FOX News family,” she said, explaining she needs to spend her time with her children. “I’m in a season where the kids need the best of me, not the rest of me.”
Roger Ailes praised Hasselbeck, stating that: “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. She has been a great addition to the Fox & Friends franchise.”
However, there are rumors that she was not offered a new contract after receiving poor ratings, but so far there is no confirmation of those claims.
Hasselbeck joined Fox News in September 2013, replacing Gretchen Carlson as the female co-host of Fox & Friends. Prior to that, she replaced Lisa Ling as the fourth co-host on ABC’s The View.
She claimed not to be a conservative, but typically represented the conservative position on The View, and in the months leading up to her leaving the show, widespread rumors circulated that Hasselbeck was going to be fired from the show, allegedly because of market research polling that showed viewers found her “too extreme and right-wing.”
Additionally, Hasselbeck appeared at Republican rallies in Florida in 2008 where she introduced then vice presidential candidate and Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin. In August 2013, conservative website Newsmax named Hasselbeck among the “25 most influential women in the GOP“. And in a 2015 interview with Bill O’Reilly, Hasselbeck agreed with the description of herself as a traditional, conservative woman.
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