Longtime CNN Anchor Poppy Harlow to Leave Network

Longtime CNN news anchor Poppy Harlow announced Friday she is leaving the network where she has worked since 2008 following the cancelation of the program she co-hosted.

"The nearly two decades since have been a gift," Harlow wrote in a message to her colleagues. "I have been inspired by you and learned so much from you — who are (and will remain) dear friends."

Harlow joined CNN in 2008 as an anchor and reporter. She was named co-anchor of "CNN Newsroom" in 2017. In 2022, then-network CEO Chris Licht selected Harlow to become co-anchor of the network’s revamped morning show with anchor Kaitlan Collins and former CNN host Don Lemon.

But Lemon was fired after a series of missteps, including blowing up at Collins off camera and declaring on air that former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, then a GOP presidential candidate, was "not in her prime."

Collins replaced Lemon as host of one of the network’s prime-time programs while Harlow began hosting "CNN This Morning" with co-anchor Phil Mattingly until it was canceled in February. Mattingly was given a new position as chief domestic correspondent and Harlow had been in discussions to continue working at the network in a different role but decided to leave CNN after more than 15 years. 

"For now, my plan is to walk our children to school and pick them up [hopefully they won’t get sick of me!], and to support the evolution of journalism in every way I can, while preserving the human[ity] in it," Harlow wrote. "I’m excited for what is ahead — and I will be rooting for CNN always."

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