Brooke Baldwin Announces Exit From CNN After 13 Years

Longtime CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin announced Tuesday she is leaving the cable news network.

“Before we get going, I want to start with some personal news,” Baldwin said at the top of CNN Newsroom. “I will be leaving CNN in April. Let me back up. 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. I remember I scribbled my name on a Post-It note and stuck it outside of this temporary office, determined to fulfill my dream of becoming a full-time CNN correspondent.”

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She thanked her staff, her boss and CNN viewers.

“I am so grateful for your loyalty and passion for the world we cover and so grateful to my show team, you know who you are,” Baldwin added. “To Jeff Zucker, to my very large CNN family, and to you. To you. The next chapter of life will be focused on what I love the most about my work, amplifying the lives of extraordinary Americans and putting my passion for storytelling to good use.”

Baldwin is from Georgia and anchored from CNN Atlanta.

“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, 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,” the newscaster said.

She then told viewers she’s not sure what’s next.

“No, I don’t have a job I am jumping right into, and yes, yes I am feeling very vulnerable,” Baldwin said. “But what is it Brené Brown says? Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change, and I am so excited about what is to come.”