Janice Dean Breaks Down In Emotional Goodbye After 22 Years At Fox News
For more than two decades, millions of Americans started their mornings with the same familiar face. Through major storms, breaking news, and countless life moments, she became a trusted part of the daily routine for Fox News viewers.
Now, after years of keeping one of television’s most demanding schedules, that chapter has come to an emotional end for deeply personal reasons.
Janice Dean delivered a tearful farewell Friday on Fox & Friends, ending a 22-year career at Fox News and explaining that her ongoing battle with multiple sclerosis ultimately forced her to step away from the early-morning schedule.
Dean announced her decision last month in a video posted to X, but Friday marked her final appearance on the network’s morning program.
Speaking to viewers, Dean thanked the audience that welcomed her into their homes every morning.
“I want to say to the audience, I have loved every moment you have invited me into your living rooms every single morning,” she said.
She recalled meeting viewers outside the Fox News studios, interacting with children during weather segments and building relationships with an audience that had become like an extended family over the years.
Dean joined Fox News more than 22 years ago and rose to become the network’s senior meteorologist. During that time, she shared many of her life’s biggest moments with viewers, including her engagement, the births of her two sons and the devastating loss of her in-laws during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Her decision to leave was not driven by controversy or contract negotiations.
Instead, Dean said the physical toll of waking up every day at 2:30 a.m. while living with multiple sclerosis had simply become too much.
“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,” Dean said.
“I did it for a long time, and I probably shouldn’t have done it as long as I did.”
She said she believes she is stepping away at a point where she can still improve her health.
“But I think I caught it at a time where I can repair myself a little bit. And part of that is, unfortunately, getting away from a job that was very stressful in a lot of ways, even though I loved it so much.”
Dean also became emotional as she thanked her husband for the sacrifices he made throughout her career.
She said he carried “the lion’s share” of the responsibility for raising their two sons during the years she was leaving for work while most families were still asleep.
It was a tribute, she said, to the unseen support that allowed her to remain on television for more than two decades.
As the farewell continued, Dean admitted that leaving Fox News felt like losing a second family.
“When you leave a career, a job, there is a grieving period because this has been part of my life,” she said.
“You guys have been my second family… turning the page on this chapter has been really heavy.”
Although Dean is leaving the daily broadcast, she expressed gratitude rather than regret.
She said she considers it the honor of her life to have spent more than 22 years serving Fox News viewers each morning.
Fox News has not announced whether Dean will remain with the network in another capacity.
What is certain is that her departure closes the book on one of the longest-running and most recognizable careers in morning cable television.
Trump ‘Briefed With Options’ Amid Stalled Iran Talks
The Trump administration on Wednesday continued to express optimism about negotiations with Iran, even as Iranian officials insist that no direct talks have taken place, according to reports.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister said no face-to-face meeting had occurred in Doha and that no direct negotiations with the United States were currently planned.
Despite Tehran’s position, President Donald Trump described the discussions as “very good,” apparently referring to indirect contacts involving U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner communicating through third-party intermediaries.
Vice President JD Vance struck a firmer tone the same day, warning that the United States could escalate its response if Iran refuses to cooperate or takes actions that further destabilize the Middle East.
His remarks underscored the administration’s message that while it remains open to a diplomatic resolution, additional measures remain on the table if negotiations fail.
“If Iran attempts to rebuild its nuclear program, threaten its neighbors and support terrorism, President Trump has options to deal with it,” Vance noted, without elaborating.
Earlier, a Wall Street Journal report claimed that Trump had been briefed on several military options, including “all-out war,” but Trump said he wanted to give diplomacy more time.
Vance additionally stated that the US “dropped bombs on Iran because it fired on ships, and we used leverage to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.”
He went on to suggest that the U.S. could take that course of action again.
Vance also said the current talks are “to discuss the details and flow of maritime traffic.”
The vice president, addressing U.S. military personnel at a naval base in Virginia on Wednesday, also said that Iran’s nuclear program has been set back decades.
“If you look at what our own intelligence says about their nuclear program, they are further away from developing a nuclear bomb than they have ever been since basically the last 20 or 30 years,” Vance said, though he stopped short of Trump’s claim that the program had been “totally obliterated.”
“What the president asks you to accomplish is to destroy the defense industrial base of that country, so that if they ever decided to rebuild their military, or if they ever decided to rebuild that nuclear program, they would be harmless to do it. You did that exactly as well,” Vance added, per the Times of Israel.
The VP went on to say that Trump is now “negotiating from a position of strength because of you.”
“If the Iranians try to rebuild the nuclear program, the President’s got options. If the Iranians try to threaten their neighbors or fund terrorism, we’ve got options,” Vance continued.
“But what we must never do is drop bombs just for the sake of dropping bombs. And that is what the president will never ask you to do,” Vance added.
“He’ll ask you to go to war, yes. But when he asks you to go to war, he’ll tell you exactly what you’re going for,” the veep noted further.
“And I think that is what you should expect out of your political leadership.”
“What I noticed about the people who are attacking the administration for negotiating is that they are the very same people who, for example, encouraged us to just go a little bit further and just drop a few more bombs in places like Afghanistan,” he said.
“If you go back to the mistakes that were made, those very same people refused to say what we were dropping bombs for,” he added.
“We dropped some bombs a couple of days ago… Because the Iranians were shooting at commercial ships… We applied some leverage, and we’ve had free commercial transit for the last three days,” Vance told the naval personnel.
