EXCLUSIVE: The One Soppy Reason That Will Force Jimmy Kimmel to Retire From Chat Show Revealed — After He's Spent Years Talking About Quitting
Jimmy Kimmel is set to finally retire for one sentimental reason.
May 27 2025, Published 11:00 a.m. ET
Jimmy Kimmel recently declared: "The reality is I’m not going to do this forever. At a certain point, it is going to have to end."
He was onto his favorite topic – retirement – which he's been talking about for years, and RadarOnline.com can now reveal the one sentimental reason that will lead to him finally quitting his money-spinning chat show game.
Soppy at Heart
Kimmel wants to spend as much time as possible with his growing family.
The Jimmy Kimmel Live! host, 57, has become a grandfather for the first time, prompting renewed talk of a long-delayed retirement.
Kimmel canceled his late-night show on Monday, 20 May, revealing the following day that his eldest daughter Katie Kimmel, 33, had gone into labor and given birth to a baby girl.
"We are back to work after an extra day off," he told viewers on Tuesday, May 20 – adding: "You know, we were supposed to have a show last night, but we didn’t because my daughter had a baby last night."
And a source told us: "Jimmy will announce he's quitting soon for good – as he wants to spend time with his growing family.
"Becoming a grandfather has really hit his age home with him and he knows life is precious, and doesn't really want to spend it talking nonsense with celebrities any more.
"He'll still do events like fronting the Oscars, but his day job will soon be gone as he wants to spend as much time as possible with family.
"He's a big softie and sentimental at heart, and this gives him the perfect excuse to quit."
Doting Dad
Leno settled his feud with Kimmel after he called up the fellow host after his son had heart surgery in 2017.
Dad-of-four Kimmel had two of his kids – Katie and her brother Kevin, 31 – with ex-wife Gina Kimmel.
Katie and her husband, Will Logson, who she married in a private Las Vegas ceremony during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, welcomed their daughter just as filming was due to begin on one of Kimmel's shows.
Kimmel explained his absence with typical humor: "My oldest daughter – you know, people don’t realize, people that know I have two little kids, they don't know I have two older kids. My oldest daughter, she's 83 years old. Her name is Katie. Katie and her husband Will had a baby girl right at the time we shoot our show last night. So I decided to be there instead of here."
Kimmel also has two younger children – Jane, 10, and Billy, eight – with his current wife Molly McNearney.
In 2021, the host joked about Katie's then-upcoming marriage on The Ellen DeGeneres Show: "She actually turned 30 two weeks ago, which is strange to have a 30-year-old daughter. And she is getting married this weekend, as a matter of fact, which is a big deal."
Congratulated by DeGeneres, Kimmel responded with characteristic sarcasm: "People keep saying congratulations. I don't know what I’m being congratulated for.
"Congratulations on raising a human that is attractive enough to be taken by one person?
"It’s not like we were trying to get rid of her, you know? It's not like we're selling a houseboat on eBay or something like that. But I guess congratulations is the thing."
Final Nudge
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He's carved himself a reputation as a loving family man.
While fatherhood has long been a feature of Kimmel’s life, being a grandad appears to be the final nudge toward a decision he has mulled for years – retirement.
The longest-serving host among the current late-night cohort, he said about the topic in a recent interview: "I've realized that there’s no point in talking about it."
Kimmel added about when he speculates about stepping down from his job: "It upsets the people I work with. There are a lot of people who won’t have jobs when I retire. That definitely weighs on me. I also know there’s not one person who works here who would resent me for retiring."
He also acknowledged a changing late-night landscape, saying: "ABC pays me. So ideally, in an ideal world, everybody would watch our show on ABC.
"But it's just not how it works. If you look at YouTube, and you look at all the shows, more people are watching our late-night television than ever were. And that is what any comedian wants."
Kimmel has also added about his commitment to the network: "I think this is my final contract. That seems like enough."
