Chelsea Handler is saying bye bye to her late night show, Chelsea Lately, and parting ways with E! when her contract ends at the end of the year.
According to Handler’s manager, Irving Azoff, “she plans to leave the E! channel when her contract expires at the end of the year, bringing a close to her Chelsea Lately talk show after eight years.”
The news shouldn’t come as a surprise however. Handler has long expressed her disappointment in working with the network for some time now.
During Handler’s interview with radio shock jock, Howard Stern, back in March she stated, “[It’s] a sad, sad place to live,” adding, “They don’t know what they’re doing. They have no ideas. It’s a failure.”
Azoff tells The Hollywood Reporter, “Chelsea intends to leave when her contract expires. She hired me to figure out her life after E! We have at least seven suitors and many ideas.”
As for what’s next for Handler? Azoff adds that plans for the host could include a radio presence and a possible nightly or weekly late-night show on another network or digital service.
A spokesperson from E! did release this statement to THR: “Chelsea has nine months left on her contract and E! will not comment on the future of Chelsea Lately at this time.”
And following David Letterman’s retirement announcement, just last night, some of begun to speculate that maybe CBS will welcome a female replacement for The Late Show.
Wouldn’t that be something?
We’ll keep you posted.
