Longtime Fox News staple Janice Dean is stepping down from her role on Fox & Friends following a significant deterioration in her multiple sclerosis symptoms, which she confirmed in a statement.
Dean, 56, made the sudden announcement in an emotional message to X on Thursday.
“In the end, my condition has advanced to such a degree that continuing in this position is no longer feasible, and my healthcare providers concurred that prioritizing my health by leaving was essential,” she explained in a video message.
Dean has been a fixture on Fox & Friends for over 20 years.
She became part of the network in 2004, and the following year, she was diagnosed with the challenging autoimmune disease she has openly spoken about before.
“For many years, I managed to cope with early starts, long hours standing, and the pressures of live TV,” she shared with her audience on Thursday.
Dean reminded how those who struggle with the disease ‘may look fine, but our immune system is attacking the brain, spinal cord, and sometimes, the optic nerve.’
‘You’re left with permanent scars,’ she said. ‘Thankfully I was diagnosed early.’
‘Ultimately, my symptoms progressed to the point that I can no longer continue working in my role, and my doctors agreed that stepping away was necessary for my health,’ longtime Fox & Friends cohost Janice Dean said, decades after her diagnosis
Despite ‘different therapies over the past two decades,’ Dean’s systems recently progressed, she said.
The weather anchor explained how a ‘lack of sleep and stress’ contributed to her symptoms.
‘I was increasingly feeling the effects of my limitations.’
Her symptoms became so pronounced that her ‘doctors agreed that stepping away was necessary,’ she said.
‘There’s so many things I’ll miss.’
Dean recalled ‘friends’ and ‘places’ she’s gotten to visit over the years.
‘The storms I covered. And the millions of viewers who have invited me into their homes every morning. Through the good times and the bad, the dark clouds and sunshine, you’ve always been there for me.’
She framed her exit as a ‘mostly sunny goodbye.’
‘Ultimately, my symptoms progressed to the point that I can no longer continue working in my role, and my doctors agreed that stepping away was necessary for my health,’ she said. The weather anchor is seen with a Fox & Friends intern earlier this year
‘I know how lucky I was, and that’s why it’s so hard to say the words,’ Dean said, choking up.
‘For every goodbye, it’s always the next hello. And maybe the chance to meet again one day in a different place at a different time.’
She told viewers to ‘take good care’ to close, while becoming increasingly emotional.
‘Be well, and God bless you all.’
‘Thank you,’ she said.
The Daily Mail has approached Fox News for comment.
Dean told viewers she was stepping away from work and social media ‘for a bit’ in a post to Facebook published on November 12.
‘My bosses at Fox have been kind and understanding, and I feel blessed to be able to take a break to be with my family,’ Dean wrote at the time.
A then-recent trip to Rome with husband Sean Newman, a retired New York firefighter, was framed as a ‘good place to start healing spiritually.’ The two share two sons, Matthew and Theodore.
Dean told viewers she was stepping away from work and social media ‘for a bit’ in a statement late last year
‘And now I have to get back to feeling healthy and strong,’ Dean told followers. She did not reveal her specific health issues at the time.
Dean previously wrote about her struggles with MS in her book, Mostly Sunny: How I Learned to Keep Smiling Through the Rainiest Days.
She recalled to People in a 2024 interview how longtime colleague Neil Cavuto helped her through her diagnosis. Cavuto was diagnosed in 1997 and remains on air.
‘I had him to say, “You’re gonna be okay,”‘ Dean remembered.