Brooke Baldwin bids farewell to CNN after 13 years

Brooke Baldwin is saying her goodbyes to CNN after 13 years of service.

With her last appearance in CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin, the 41-year-old expressed her emotions as the show goes off air. She was nothing but "filled with gratitude."

"Let me let you in on a little secret: This job, my show here on CNN, was not originally supposed to be mine," she began. "More than a decade ago, there was an anchor who suddenly departed CNN, leaving this gaping hole in the afternoons, and the then-bosses quickly turned to me. They were like, 'Brooke, we're going to need you to keep this seat warm, just for a week until we actually find the person who will take over the show.'"

"Well, guess what, I have kept the seat warm for nearly 11 years,"

Speaking to the viewers who watch her onscreen, Baldwin said:

"You and I have witnessed history together, from marriage equality to this pandemic, from the Women's March to #MeToo, from natural disasters to, again, senseless shootings, and now we wait, we wait for justice in a trial where another Black man in America has died at the hands of police. This job, using my voice for over a decade, has been nothing short of a profound privilege."

"To you at home: thank you. Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for holding me accountable and thank you for all of the love — I'm telling you, I'm reading every single one of your DMs," she said. "And to you, my CNN family, my CNN huddle. This is the hardest part. Thank you for making me better. Thank you for pushing me. Thank you for believing in me and my big backflip off the high dive today."