Veteran CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour announces exit from network, will go off the air next June

Veteran CNN International anchor Christiane Amanpour announced Monday she's leaving the network next summer after more than four decades at the network.

"After more than 43 years at CNN, Christiane has decided that the time is right to begin a new chapter," CNN CEO Mark Thompson told staffers in a memo.

"Early in 2027, she will scale back her CNN International show, ‘Amanpour,’ to once a week.

The program will conclude in May, and she will leave CNN at the end of June." "Christiane has thought carefully about this decision, and she and I have been discussing it for some months.

Like so many CNNers who will hear the news today, 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," Thompson wrote.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR POINTS TO 'HEMORRHAGING' AT CBS TO WARN OF DAVID ELLISON'S POTENTIAL TAKEOVER AT CNN Amanpour thanked her viewers and alluded to the "pressures" she and her CNN colleagues face during an on-air address.

"Now, you know I've always been fiercely independent, and I will continue to be that for you for as long as I am here and beyond," Amanpour said.

"That's especially important today as we face unprecedented pressures from all sides, political, financial and also from the rising dangers in the field.

I'll always be rooting for CNN maintaining its history of independent journalism." "Remember: always be truthful, not neutral," she also said in a written statement.

NEW CNN BOSS MARK THOMPSON SUPPORTIVE OF CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR AS LEFT-WING ANCHOR LAUNCHES WEEKEND SHOW The announcement came as a shock to CNN staffers.

One called her CNN's "reigning titan." Another described themselves as a "Christiane loyalist" and called her "the heart and soul of this company," but admitted her stature in journalism can continue without CNN.

"She has the power to chart her own course.

Yes, she is synonymous with a brand, but she is also a bigger than the brand," the CNN staffer told Fox News Digital .

While the 68-year-old journalist is revered among her CNN colleagues and members of the liberal media, she has her critics as well.