'Good Morning America' Anchor Quits After 13 Years: What's Next for Dr. Jennifer Ashton
ABC News' chief medical correspondent is off to start her own company from scratch.
Good Morning America co-host Dr. Jennifer Ashton is leaving the show to focus on her new women's wellness company, Ajenda. Ashton announced her departure on Thursday in a statement published by The Hollywood Reporter. She will be leaving the show in June when her contract with ABC News ends.
Ashton is the chief medical correspondent for ABC News and a co-host of GMA3, the third hour of the acclaimed morning show. Last month, she announced the launch of her new company Ajenda, which will focus on the challenges of menopause health and weight management specifically. Ashton will lead the company as founder and CEO, and she said she couldn't ignore the call to focus on this venture, even if it meant leaving ABC after 13 years on the air.
"I kind of subscribe to the fact that when the universe sends you a message, you should listen to it," Ashton said. "I've been watching and participating in the steadily building upswell of interest of those two areas in our country and in our society and in our culture and media and in medicine and in science. Sometimes an important message needs the right messenger, and I feel like there is no more critical time in this country for women's health, and for weight management."
"We're facing an obesity epidemic, and menopause and perimenopause and women's health is literally in a spotlight like never before," Ashton went on. "And I want to be the messenger for those messages. And so I'm excited about finally having the opportunity to just devote 100 percent of my time and effort into that, and using the skills that I've learned from being at the number one network for 13 years, I think are going to be really vital in that."
Ashton said that her colleagues at ABC have been very supportive of this transition, including ABC News president Kim Godwin and head of the news and networks division Debra O'Connell. They even gave statements to THR praising Ashton and wishing her well on her new business.
Ashton is a board-certified OB/GYN and an Obesity Medicine Specialist. She joined ABC News in 2012 and became a co-host of GMA3 in March of 2020, when authoritative medical voices were needed the most. Ashton said that she thinks she will continue to appear on screen "in some shape or form," including possibly video content for Ajenda. For now, you can still see Ashton on air until her departure in June.
0comments