"Good Day L.A." anchor Michaela Pereira, one of local TV's most popular news personalities, is leaving Fox 11's morning newscast.
Pereira, who returned to Los Angeles in 2020 to anchor a revamped broadcast after a high-profile stint at CNN and another at HLN, is expected to announce to viewers during Thursday's telecast that she is leaving to explore "new opportunities." Her last day will be Sept. 9.
"I came to the fantastic team at GDLA to help fulfill a mission," Pereira wrote in a memo to the newsroom Wednesday. "It was centered in a time when the world was challenged in a way we couldn't even begin to estimate nor fully understand. I am nearly 2 decades into my love affair with Los Angeles, this opportunity felt like the best way I could be of service and contribute to the effort to get the place we all call home through such a bizarre time.
"Now there is a calling again to explore," she continued later in the note. "Over the last several months there have been some new opportunities that are calling me again - things that align with my personal mission and purpose. I feel compelled to create and dig into these new adventures. Of course, I will share more with you when I can." She called her time at Fox 11 "a joy and a privilege."
Pereira first became a local TV favorite as a co- anchor on "The KTLA Morning News," which drew top ratings thanks to its upbeat tone and chemistry among its on-air talent. She left the newscast after nine years in 2013 when then-CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker recruited her to launch the network's New York-based morning show "New Day" with Chris Cuomo and Kate Bolduan.
She returned to Los Angeles in 2017 to host her own show at sister channel HLN. That show ended in 2018. She joined Fox 11 two years later.
Acting Fox 11 news director Pete Wilgoren in a statement called Pereira's departure "bittersweet," calling her "a guiding force for much of our in-depth conversation during the pandemic - seeking answers from the experts and providing comfort to the viewers during uncertain times."
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.