NEED TO KNOW
- Deborah Norville signed off Inside Edition for the last time on Wednesday, May 21
- The journalist hosted the show for 30 years, first joining in 1995
- In her final moments on Inside Edition, Norville said she was “literally swimming in gratitude” and shared an inspirational message for viewers
Deborah Norville has officially signed off Inside Edition after 30 years.
After anchoring the show for three decades, Norville’s final episode aired Wednesday, May 21. Addressing the audience in the closing minutes of the episode, the host — surrounded by her colleagues — said, “I am literally swimming in gratitude.”
“Since I announced my departure last month, I have been floored by the response of my peers and by you, our viewers,” she said. “I’ve stayed this long because you welcomed me and the stories that we tell. I know Inside has been a companion to many of you, and you’ve told me that you’ll miss our daily visits. I’m going to miss them too.”
“In my very first job in television, a woman I worked with told me I didn’t belong there. I have spent the last 47 years trying to prove her wrong,” she continued. “And so my thought is this: Believe in yourself when it seems no one else does, because you may be amazed where that confidence will take you. Thank you all. Thank you so much.”
Earlier in the episode, which was tooled as a retrospective of her tenure on Inside Edition, Norville said, “Don’t cry because it’s ending. Rejoice because it happened. That phrase has been echoing in my head today because today is my last day on Inside Edition.”
The episode also featured celebrity shoutouts as well as interviews with Norville’s friends and family, including her husband, Karl Wellner, and their daughter, Mikaela. Norville and Wellner also share two sons, Niki and Kyle.
Norville, 66, announced her departure from Inside Edition on the April 2 episode, during the same telecast she celebrated her 30 years on the show. Having first joined in 1995, Norville is the longest-serving female anchor on national TV.
The beloved journalist exclusively told PEOPLE that leaving Inside Edition now was the “right move” for her and her family.
“There’ve been too many times when my career had to come first, and I had to say, ‘You do understand?’ And he’d always say he did,” she said of her husband of more than 37 years. “He said the right thing and now I understand. What I understand is, it’s right for me to be there for him and to do the things that as a couple we really want to do.”
Norville said she is “overwhelmed with gratitude” to have led the show over the years and to have brought joy to Inside Edition viewers who welcomed her into their homes.
Ahead of her big goodbye, Norville took to Instagram to share a video montage of her time on Inside Edition and note how she helmed shows longer than other TV legends like Barbara Walters, Walter Cronkite, Jane Pauley, Oprah Winfrey and Johnny Carson.
“That first day in 1995…I had no idea I would be making TV history,” she wrote in onscreen captions. “I am truly blessed. Thank you everyone.”
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Though Inside Edition is now in her rearview, Norville is looking ahead to hosting the syndicated trivia game show The Perfect Line, set to premiere later this year.
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