Chipper CNN weekend anchor Christi Paul brushed away tears on Sunday as she announced was quitting the cable news network because she was ‘tired of being tired’ and plans to move back to her home state of Ohio to live a simpler life.
‘I am part of the Great Resignation,’ she said during the weekend broadcast.
She recounted the grueling last two years, beginning with her husband being hospitalized with Covid-19.
‘It was really bad for about three and half weeks and there were moments when I thought I was going to be a single mom. Especially when I had to take him to the ER,’ she said.
Paul, originally from Bellevue, Ohio, said her decision came after she wasn’t able to see her parents for a year coupled with the demanding schedule of a weekend anchor that meant getting into work at 1am on Saturdays and Sundays.
‘At some point my husband and I looked at each other and said ‘What are we doing? We need to get back home,”’ she said.
"I am part of the Great Resignation." Here is @NewDay Weekend co-anchor @Christi_Paul's announcement about giving up the early morning grind and moving home to Ohio pic.twitter.com/gVF2vbOyY5
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 26, 2022
She said that she made the decision in January to return to the Buckeye state where she will take an on-air job. Paul said she would announce her new job next week.
‘I’m going home to Ohio. I will be on the air,’ she said.
She said that the grind of living in Atlanta and anchoring the weekend desk had put a strain on her family to the point where she had to make a choice between the two.
‘I love these people, I love this place,’ she said of CNN and her coworkers. ‘And I am so tired. I’m so exhausted. I just could just not be who I need to be for my family. I’m tired of being tired.’
A former beauty pageant contestant, who won third runner up to Miss Ohio in 1993, she worked in Phoenix, Arizona and Boise, Idaho before joining CNN.
She was previously married to another broadcast reporter in West Virginia, but the marriage soured when she said he became abusive.
Paul wrote a book about the abused called, ‘Love isn’t supposed to hurt’ in 2012.
Her deep Christian faith helped her survive the relationship, she said. She also recorded two songs ‘Wake Up In It’ and ‘Free’ in Nashville that carry the themes that she wrote about in the book.
Now, she’s remarried with three daughters.
Paul’s departure comes at a time when the cable news network is going through a massive shift in its culture after Jeff Zucker was ousted for not disclosing an extra-marital affair with a subordinate and ethics questions surrounding the channel’s coverage of the Andrew Cuomo sexual harassment scandal.
The new network head, Chris Licht, has said that he would dial back the partisan rancor that has come to define CNN and tone down the broadcasts in general.
On Instagram she emphasized her burnout.
‘I think we’re all exhausted from feeling judged,’ she wrote. ‘I also think we have the power to change that. – love, CP’ she posted.
She said that she realized that she was replaceable on the weekend news desk at CNN, but she wasn’t replaceable as a mother, wife and daughter to her family.
‘At the end of the day, someone is going to sit in this seat and I’m going to leave and the show will go on as it should,’ she said and then her voice cracked. ‘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.’
She thank her coworkers and the network for her nine years on the air.
‘This has been the ride of my life,’ she said.
Her last words were her signature sign off that she has been saying for her near decade at the cable station.
‘Go make good memories,’ she said. ‘I mean it.’
Mrs. Paul’s position of too many irons in the fire led to downsizing her engagements. That’s sensible.
My eyes also read the confession by the news manager about the bias at CNN needs to be dialed back. After so many scandals of bribery, fraud, deception, and sex, . . . dial back is an understatement.
This reminds me of the math question: How many incidents will it take to open your eyes to the truth?
My point is that the blatant corruption of lies provided by CNN for public consumption should have long ago shut down the Communication Media.
Jon Jo.
It’s a tough job spewing hate and lies about Republicans. Living a life of perpetual bitterness and trying the change the world into utopia is stressful and a fool’s errand.
She won’t be missed. Everyone at CNN should quit and do the world a favor. Good riddance.