Megyn Kelly says she left Fox News because of Trump and the 'snake pit' that is primetime cable news
In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Kelly said that while she enjoyed covering a wide range of stories as a reporter at Fox, when she got her own show, her coverage became much more political. She also alluded to Trump's repeated vocal and derogatory criticism of her and her show.
"I was never a political person, I wasn't raised in a political household, and it became clear to me it wasn't what I wanted to do, it's not who I am," Kelly said. "And then, Donald Trump has a way of clarifying one's life choices, and that was true for me too."
The NBC anchor also said she found that the environment of primetime cable news to be like a "snake pit."
"That's how it felt. And I didn't want to be in the snake pit," Kelly said. "But it has a way of pulling you in, over and over and over. And then that becomes your life, and that's not the life I wanted."
Kelly's tenure at Fox was largely defined by political topics.
Her probing questions during interviews and the 2016 Republican primary debates earned wide-ranging praise, while many critics argued that the Fox News host's newfound popularity among liberals papered over her history of racially-fraught segments.
But NBC has been attempting to show Kelly's softer side in the lead-up to her new daytime show "Megyn Kelly Today," set to debut at 9 a.m. next week. She has sat for interviews during daytime television and in People magazine, and in the recently released promos for the new show, Kelly smiles and shakes hands with people in a supermarket and a baseball stadium.