ENTERTAINMENTChristiane Amanpour Says Goodbye to CNN After '43 Fantastic Years' Following Confession David Ellison's Network Takeover 'Concerned' Her
Christiane Amanpour is leaving CNN.
Oct. 19 2026, Updated 1:43 p.m. ET
Veteran anchor Christiane Amanpour is leaving CNN after 43 years as Donald Trump ally David Ellison gets set to take over the network.
“After many months of thought and a few sleepless nights, I have decided to separate from CNN, my partner of 43 fantastic years!” she said in a statement released on October 19.
Christiane Amanpour May Have Hinted at Reason for Departure
Christiane Amanpour is no fan of David Ellison.
Amanpour, 68, intimated that Ellison's $110 billion merger of CNN parent company Warner Brothers into his Skydance umbrella may have factored into her decision. She said she "will always be rooting for CNN and maintaining its history of independent journalism. Remember: always be truthful, not neutral."
The comment harkens back to a comment she made last month, when she voiced her concern about what she called the “ideological realignment” of CBS under Ellison's leadership and the concern she had over Ellison taking over her network.
"I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say about a corporate thing that’s underway, but I am, obviously, as a person, as a journalist with a record, concerned,” Amanpour told an audience in London. “And I’m concerned based on what’s happened to the other things that he’s taken over already like CBS News right? I mean, do I have to list what’s happening there?”
Christiane Amanpour Aims to Leave by June
Christiane Amanpour is winding down until she departs in June.
Amanpour, who has struggled with ovarian cancer, clarified that she will end her daily shows on CNN and PBS by the end of this year, then work a weekly show at the network through June.
She added she "will be continuing my successful podcast 'The Ex-Files' with Global" and that she looks "forward to interesting new projects down the line."
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Another Departure Under David Ellison
Christiane Amanpour is leaving quickly after David Ellison's takeover.
Amanpour's departure is reminiscent of the early exodus of veteran CBS talent at the start of Ellison's reign.
When Ellison handed journalist Bari Weiss the keys to CBS News despite her having no broadcast television experience, veteran talent including Anderson Cooper, John Dickerson, Maurice DuBois, Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega either left or were booted from the network within months.
Amanpour was critical of the damage Ellison had done to CBS News and particularly 60 Minutes when she spoke in London.
Amanpour was an anchor of 60 Minutes from 1996 to 2005.
CNN Sends Christiane Amanpour Off
Christiane Amanpour worked at CNN for 43 years.
CNN has not clarified whether the new ownership factored into Amanpour's decision.
Mark Thompson, CNN's editor-in-chief since 2023, said in a statement, “I’m very sorry to see her go, but I’ve come to accept that this is the right time for her, both personally and professionally.”
“Christiane has been a household name around the world for decades," he wrote. "Yet she began more than 40 years ago not as one of the biggest stars in CNN’s history, but as a news desk assistant in our Atlanta newsroom. 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. Boy, did she prove him wrong!”
