After twenty years of bringing the weather to millions of living rooms across the U.S., Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean signed off the air for the last time in an emotionally charged goodbye that didn’t leave a dry eye in the room. Sitting on the curvy couch during a recent episode of Fox & Friends, Dean took her final moments on live television to thank the audience, whom she called her “friends” and looked back on the milestones she achieved while on the show.
“I want to say to the audience, I have loved every moment you have invited me into your living rooms every single morning,” a tearful Dean stated during the segment. “I’ve met some of you on the plaza. I’ve done the weather with some of the children. It has been an honor of my life. And I feel really blessed to have done this job,” she continued.
Dean, who has been with Fox News for over 22 years, announced she would be leaving the program in a video that was shared on her X account in July. She explained that her struggles with multiple sclerosis, along with the morning work schedule, were having a negative impact on her health, taking that as a sign it was time to call it a day.
“Living with an illness, we don’t talk about this on TV, but getting up at 2:30 in the morning is a really tough thing, right? It’s tough on your body. I did it for a long time, and I probably shouldn’t have done it as long as I did,” she went on to say, according to Fox News. “But I think I caught it at a time where I can repair myself a little bit.”
Dean then pointed out that throughout her time on the program, she has shared a number of major life milestones on television with the crew and audience, including her engagement and the birth of her two children, along with speaking openly concerning the difficult deaths of her in-laws during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The longtime Fox meteorologist then stated that she’s now looking forward to spending more time with her family and two teenage sons. She then thanked her husband, who she said took on the “lion’s share of all those mornings,” so she could follow her dreams. She then described the time she was off the air as a “grieving period” and stated that she felt it was really important to come back and say a proper goodbye.
“When you leave a career [or] a job, there is a grieving period because this has been part of my life. You guys have been my second family, and this, I think, will help me with that grieving period, because turning the page on this chapter has been really heavy,” she stated during the show. “And maybe the pages will get lighter after this.”
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For those who might not know what multiple sclerosis is, it is an autoimmune disease that attacks the central nervous system. It is a chronic illness that does not have a cure. Thankfully, most people who suffer from the illness still live into old age, with the disease only shortening the average life span of a human being by about 5 to 7 years, if at all.
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video