CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour leaving network after a storied career of
43 years
[October 20, 2026]
By JOCELYN NOVECK
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
U.S. 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!”
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Christiane Amanpour attends Variety's Power of Women in New York on
April 5, 2019. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
 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%
tribalized.”
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 favor.”
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