Carrie Bickmore announces she is leaving The Project

Carrie Bickmore has announced that she is leaving The Project so she can spend more time with her family.

The beloved TV host fought back tears as she told viewers it was the hardest decision she’s ever had to make in her professional life.

The Gold Logie winner has been a panelist on the show and on The Project desk for 13 years since the program first launched in 2009.

“I’ve got news to share…I’m already crying,” she began.

“I made the difficult decision to host the show at the end of the year.

“It was the hardest decision in my professional life to make this call, but it’s time for a new challenge and for my next chapter.”

Bickmore said she will miss her “buddies at the desk” and the “great viewers” who have supported the show for more than a decade.

“It’s no secret that this show has become a second home to me, and I couldn’t be more grateful for everyone who has been involved on and off screen,” she said.

‘It’s been a long journey. I started the show when Ollie, my son, was one, and he’s 15 now, which is crazy. And I want to spend more time at home.

“I want to have more family dinners. I watch the show at home with a glass of wine in hand. I just wanted to say a huge thank you.

“It’s been an incredible privilege.”

Bickmore said that while she loved her “fulfilling” job, she wanted to know who she was without The Project.

“This show is so in my DNA and I don’t know who I am without,” she said.

The 41-year-old presenter shares three children; Oliver, Evie and Adelaide with her partner Chris Walker. The couple has been married for almost ten years.

In March, Bickmore announced that she would be taking a few months off work to travel Europe with her children, while living mainly in London.

‘We’ve wanted to do it for a while, but [the] the timing wasn’t right, but we don’t think it will ever be the perfect time to go,” she told The Project.

“It’s something we really want to do before my son starts his final year at school, so we’re doing the second semester in the UK. So I’ll be away for a few months,” she added.

The family sold their five-bedroom Melbourne family home just days before announcing her extended leave.

Carrie’s decision to become a journalist was inspired by her father, who worked in radio for 24 years but had previously dreamed of becoming a ballerina.

Brian Bickmore is a founding member of the Austereo Network and worked for radio in Adelaide and Melbourne for 24 years before retiring in 2004.

Bickmore won the Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television in 2015, and used her acceptance speech to honor her late husband Greg – who died of brain cancer in 2010, just three years after their son Ollie was born.

She wore a bright blue cap as she spoke of her desire to raise awareness about the disease, which she said killed eight out of 10 people diagnosed.