Elisabeth Hasselbeck Leaves Fox & Friends After 2 Years as a Co-Host to Raise Her 3 Children

Former co-host of The View announces she will step down from morning news show

Elisabeth Hasselbeck is saying goodbye to her friends at Fox.

The 38-year-old television figure announced Monday she will depart Fox & Friends, a weekday morning news program she's been co-hosting alongside Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade since September 2013.

Hasselbeck will be leaving the show at the end of the year. 

According to Fox News, she is putting her career in television on hold to focus on raising her three young children—Grace Elisabeth, 10, Taylor Thomas, 8, and Isaiah Timothy, 6—with her retired NFL quarterback husband, Tim Hasselbeck. 

A variety of rotating co-hosts will fill in until a permanent replacement is named.

"Oftentimes, the most difficult decisions are between two great things," Hasselbeck, who rose to fame after competing on the second season of Survivor in 2001, said in a statement. "With a heart full of gratitude and the peace that God has given me, I am confident that this personal decision is the right one for our family, and we will be joining all of you watching Fox & Friends each morning as we get ready for school together." 

Added Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes, "Elisabeth and I discussed this at length over several weeks, and while I would love for her to continue here, I respect her incredibly difficult, yet deeply personal decision. She has been a great addition to the Fox & Friends franchise."

Reports circulated earlier today noting that Hasselbeck was offered a new contract with Fox News, who was allegedly begging her to stay. A source confirms to E! News that "she was not offered a new contract," and "there certainly was no begging."

Publicly, Hasselbeck has had nothing but the nicest things to say about her colleagues at Fox News.

"[They] are so funny and interesting and wise and smart and they take such good care of me!" she told Rachael Ray earlier this year. 

Prior to her daily appearances on the network, Hasselbeck spent 10 years at ABC as a co-host on The View before stepping down in July 2013. As for a potential return to the famous panel, don't count on it. 

"I've done my time. I did my time, I was outta there," she said of the show during her interview with Ray. "That time is passed; I was thankful to have the decade that I did there."