Anderson Cooper Michele Crowe/CBS Broadcasting Inc.

Anderson Cooper is leaving CBS News' "60 Minutes" at the end of this season after 20 years with the celebrated newsmagazine. He'll still report multiple stories in production for "60 Minutes" before the season ends in May, according to the show.

Cooper, who is also a primetime anchor on CNN, said in a statement that he decided to leave his role at CBS to spend more time with his children.

"Being a correspondent at '60 Minutes' has been one of the highlights of my career. I got to tell amazing stories, and work with some of the best producers, editors and camera crews in the business," Cooper said. "For nearly twenty years, I've been able to balance my jobs at CNN and CBS, but I have little kids now and I want to spend as much time with them as possible, while they want to spend time with me."

CBS News expressed gratitude for his work on the long-running program.

"For more than two decades, Anderson Cooper has taken '60 Minutes' viewers on journeys to faraway places, told us unforgettable stories, reported consequential investigations and interviewed many prominent figures," CBS News said in a statement. "We're grateful to him for dedicating so much of his life to this broadcast, and understand the importance of spending more time with family. '60 Minutes' will be here if he ever wants to return."

Cooper appeared on Sunday's broadcast of "60 Minutes," introducing a short video essay from documentary filmmaker Ken Burns about what he thinks would surprise America's Founding Fathers about the U.S. ahead of its 250th anniversary.

Cooper started working as a correspondent for "60 Minutes" in the 2006-2007 television season through an agreement between CBS News and CNN. He previously contributed stories to "60 Minutes II," a onetime spinoff of the broadcast.

His departure follows a tumultuous time for "60 Minutes," which premiered in 1968. Last spring, the show's third executive producer in its history, Bill Owens, left the network, saying it has "become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it."

Owens' exit came while "60 Minutes" was at the center of a lawsuit that President Trump filed against Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, during the 2024 presidential campaign over the broadcast's interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.

Paramount ultimately settled with Mr. Trump last summer for $16 million. The settlement didn't include an apology. The chair of Paramount's board at the time, Shari Redstone, had recused herself from talks about the settlement as the Federal Communications Commission was reviewing a merger between Paramount and David Ellison's Skydance Media.

A few weeks after the settlement, the FCC cleared the way for the merger to move forward.

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