Longtime CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour, who began as an entry-level assistant and rose to become one of the most visible correspondents and anchors on TV, reporting from war zones and hot spots for decades, will be leaving the network after 43 years.
Amanpour, the network’s chief international anchor, will scale back her daily show, “Amanpour,” on CNN International to once a week at the beginning of 2027, and end it in May, leaving the network the following month. She said in a statement Monday that she looks forward to “interesting new projects down the line.”
Amanpour, 68, also will end her PBS show, “Amanpour & Co,” at the end of the year, she said in her statement, shared by CNN. She will continue her podcast, “The Ex Files,” with her ex-husband, Jamie Rubin, a former US diplomat.
“After many months of thought and a few sleepless nights, I have decided to separate from CNN, my partner of 43 fantastic years!” Amanpour said. She added she would “always be rooting for CNN and maintaining its history of independent journalism. Remember: Always be truthful, not neutral.”
No reason given for her departure
Amanpour did not give a reason for her departure, nor did she specifically mention changes at her network. But her exit coincides with a new era at CNN as it comes under a new owner, Skydance. After a yearlong process, Skydance-owned Paramount closed its $81 billion buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery on Oct. 6. The merger unites under one roof two giants in TV news - CBS and CNN.
On a personal front, Amanpour has spoken openly about her 2021 diagnosis of ovarian cancer and two later recurrences, calling it “the invisible killer.” She has urged others to “get all the scans that you can.”
Amanpour joined CNN as an assistant in Atlanta in 1983. In his own message Monday, CNN’s chief executive, Mark Thompson, wrote that at the time, her promise was not universally appreciated. “Famously, one of her bosses told her back then that she didn’t have what it took to become a foreign correspondent - or to hold any on-air role at all,” Thompson wrote. “Boy, did she prove him wrong!”
Fame came during the first Gulf War
Amanpour became a reporter and an international correspondent seven years later. She earned fame in the early 1990s, covering the Gulf War, conflict in the Middle East and many other hot spots. War reporting is “a sense of mission, it’s a sense of purpose, it’s a sense of being able to tell a story,” she said.
She aimed to bring international news - including complicated stories - to American viewers. “I’ve never believed that things are too complicated to put on American television,” she told The Associated Press in 2023. “I’ve never talked down to an audience. I’ve never believed that they just want to know what’s happening in their backyard.”
Amanpour also noted that her upbringing gave her a unique perspective.
“Because of my upbringing - I’m half-Iranian and half-British - I’ve had the great privilege of being able to see the world from two very distinct perspectives,” she said. “I’ve always spoken out about the need to bridge gaps. I know we can live in a world that’s not 100% tribalised.”
In her remarks Monday, Amanpour thanked her field crews and show teams.
“From my very first big exciting assignment covering the first Gulf War, to the horrors of the Bosnian War, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Iran and all the points in between, it’s the teams and the camaraderie that counted so much,” she wrote, “as we together battled to seek the facts, the evidence and the humanity, so that CNN could always broadcast the truth about the world and to the world, without fear nor favour.”