“I’m 80 years old. I don’t want the friction,” the correspondent said of his departure in a new interview
Geraldo Rivera is opening up about his exit from Fox News’ The Five.
During an interview with the Associated Press on Wednesday, Rivera, 79, cited “growing tension” beyond “editorial differences” as the reason for his departure.
“It has been a rocky ride but it has also been an exhilarating adventure that spanned quite a few years,” he told the outlet of his exit. “I hope it’s not my last adventure.”
“It’s not worth it to me,” Rivera added. “I’m 80 years old. I don’t want the friction. The Five is too intimate a place and it gets too personal.”
Rivera, who turns 80 on July 4, went on to say that his relationships with his The Five colleagues is “a reflection of what the country is going through. … It’s not an easy job if you take it as personally as I do.”
He added that while it was his decision to leave The Five, Fox management “didn’t race after me to say, ‘Geraldo, please come back,’ ” he told AP.
A representative for Fox News did not comment to .
Rivera, who joined The Five in 2022, announced his exit on Twitter on Wednesday and confirmed the date of his last appearance.
“Morning, it’s official, I’m off @TheFive,” he wrote. “My last scheduled show appearances are Thursday and Friday June 29th and 30th. It’s been a great run and I appreciate having had the opportunity. Being odd man out isn’t always easy. For the time being, I’m still Correspondent at Large.”
According to AP, Rivera’s contract with Fox News expires in January 2025.
The Five is a five-person panel talk show. Four of the voices are conservative, while the fifth is liberal. Rivera appeared on the show as a rotating liberal personality — along with Jessica Tarlov and Harold Ford Jr. — alongside regular conservative voices Jesse Watters, Dana Perino, Jeanine Pirro and Greg Gutfeld.
In particular, Rivera had a number of on-air clashes with Gutfled. In April, Rivera told Gutfled to “stop pointing at me” when they argued over electric vehicles, per AP. Meanwhile, last year Rivera called Gutfeld “an arrogant punk” during a discussion about abortion.
Rivera first joined the network in 2001 as a war correspondent.
Back in 2020, Rivera opened up to about his career and celebrated 50 years since he made his television debut.
“They used to say that my life has had more ups and downs than the cycle of roller coasters at Coney Island,” Rivera told . “I believe that that’s true.”
“I’m honored, I’m humbled by it,” he continued of the milestone. “It exhilarates me and exhausts me.”
After leaving law to pursue journalism — a decision his parents were initially “horrified” by — Rivera did his first story for Eyewitness News on Sept. 8, 1970.