For Megyn Kelly, deciding to leave Fox News to instead join the Today show team was about much more than just her career. In a recent interview, the mom-of-three, 46, admitted she made her big work change to be able to spend more time with her kids.

“Two of my kids were in school during the exact hours that I was at home. They would get back at 3:30 p.m. just as I’d be leaving to do The Kelly File. I hadn’t tucked them into bed on a weeknight in three years,” Megyn told People. “It was time to do a gut check, to make sure I was happy and doing what I’m supposed to. The answer was clearly no. It was time to make a change.”

megyn kelly kids splash, twitter

Megyn with her husband and three kids (inset). (Photo Credit: Splash, Twitter)

Megyn added that working for Fox was a “snake pit,” and ultimately not the type of news she wanted to be reporting on. “I’m not a political animal and I have never been. The subject matter was not true to my soul,” she admitted. The TV star officially left Fox News after nearly 13 years in late 2016. Her new NBC show, Megyn Kelly Today, premiered in September 2017.

“I feel less stressed and less distant from the things that matter to me — my husband and my children. My life,” she said, referring to her spouse, novelist Douglas Brunt, and their three kids, Yardley Evans Brunt, 6, and sons Edward Yates Brunt, 8, and Thatcher Bray Brunt, 4. “This job change has been a way of taking better care of myself. Settling for more means being with my kids more,” Megyn said in a previous interview.

“You have to be honest with yourself, even if there is some fear in making a change. Accolades or awards are meaningless unless you feel connected to the people who mean something to you — especially your children,” she continued. “I’m the one who tucks them in, which is worth more to me than any money, any job, any power.”