Megyn Kelly on leaving Fox: ‘I’m not a political animal and I never have been’

NBC’s Megyn Kelly said she left the world of cable news because she’s “not a political animal and I never have been” in an interview published in People magazine on Wednesday. 

“It was time to do a gut check, to make sure I was happy and doing what I’m supposed to,” she told People ahead of the Sept. 25 launch of NBC’s “Megyn Kelly Today.” 

“The answer was clearly no. It was time to make a change.”

{mosads}Kelly, 46, was hired by NBC News earlier this year for a reported salary of $18 million annually.

The attorney-turned-cable-news-star was offered a reported $25 million to stay at Fox News, but jumped to NBC in January. Kelly finished 2016 as the second highest rated host in cable news behind only the since-ousted Bill O’Reilly, also of Fox News.

“I’m not a political animal and I never have been,” Kelly said of the politically focused nature of cable news. “The subject matter was not true to my soul.”

Kelly’s daytime show is set to air weekdays at 9 a.m., which will likely consist of a different kind of audience than the one that watched her weeknights on Fox News. 

As she stated when she first signed with NBC News, Kelly said that being with her family more was a driving force behind her decision to leave prime time. 

“Two of my kids were in school during the exact hours that I was at home,” she told People. “They would get back at 3:30 p.m. just as I’d be leaving to do ‘The Kelly File.’ I hadn’t tucked them into bed on a weeknight in three years.”

“I feel less stressed, and less distant from the things that matter to me — my husband and my children,” she added. “My life.”

The ratings of Kelly’s Sunday night news magazine, “Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly,” faltered in a limited eight-week run over the summer, often finishing in third place in its time slot. The show is still slated to return after the top-rated “Sunday Night Football” and NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics end in February. 

“Megyn Kelly Today” will be shown before a live studio audience when the show kicks off Monday.