CNN bid farewell to a longtime weekend anchor on Sunday. New Day anchor Christi Paul ended her tenure with the news network after close to a decade appearing in weekend broadcasts alongside Victor Blackwell and Boris Sanchez. Paul has been a longtime fixture with CNN and sister-station HLN since 2003, with a decade hosting on CNN weekends.
“The show will go on, as it should,” Paul said to close out her time. “But nobody else is going to be my kids’ mom. And nobody else is going to be my husband’s wife or my parents’ children, and I need to be fully, fully present there. And it’s been hard.”
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She also called herself part of “The Great Resignation,” hoping to focus on her children and her husband, who also recently suffered from COVID-19 and had to be hospitalized. Her destination is Ohio and she made clear that she was “tired of being tired.”
That doesn’t mean Paul is finished with her news career. She will eventually join a local news outlet near her home in Ohio, with the specifics coming later in the week. “Friends – I’m overwhelmed by your goodness! Thank you to [Amanda Carpenter, Brian Stelter, Mark Hertling, Cedric Leighton] & ALL of you who let me invade your morning space the last 9 yrs & for the very generous words you’re sending! I genuinely appreciate each one of you,” she wrote on Twitter.
Paul started with the company at HLN in 2003 in the daytime slots but soon moved to CNN. According to Variety, she used her platform to speak out about domestic violence and wrote a book adding to the discussion titled Love Isn’t Supposed to Hurt in 2012. Before CNN, Paul worked at stations in Arizona and Idaho, and started her career as a “one-person unit” in Clarksburg, WV.
Plenty of CNN personalities spoke out to wish Paul well in her next chapter. “It’s a bittersweet day on New Day this morning,” CNN producer Bethany Crudele wrote. “Today marks Christi Paul’s last day on our show. She’s been the heart of weekend mornings for years. Tune in as we say goodbye!”
“I cried. Someone else will be in this seat but ‘no one else is going to be my kids mom.’ Bless you, [Christi Paul],” political analyst and columnist Amanda Carpenter wrote. “And ALL THE BEST to you. Ohio, and above all, YOUR FAMILY is lucky to have you.”
