Carrie Bickmore drops major on-air bombshell during The Project

Carrie Bickmore has stunned The Project’s audience with a massive on-air bombshell announcement about her next move.

Carrie Bickmore has announced she will be departing The Project for “a few months” as she temporarily moves to the UK with her family.

She made the announcement on air on Tuesday night, leaving audience members stunned.

“Well I just wanted to share a little personal news from me tonight before we go on that in April I’m going to be taking a few months off The Project desk,” she began.

“[Partner] Chris and I and the kids are heading off on a family adventure together.

.@BickmoreCarrie has some news & we couldn't be happier or prouder. This year, Carrie and her family are heading overseas to discover what the world has to offer, so she's taking some well deserved time off to create some more amazing memories.#TheProjectTVpic.twitter.com/Ed4oASccsK

— The Project (@theprojecttv) March 15, 2022

“We’ve been wanting to do it for a while but lots of reasons, timing hasn’t been right, but we figure it’s never going to be the perfect time to go and it’s something we really want to do before my son starts his final years at school so we’re doing term two in the UK.

“So I will be off for a couple of months.”

Bickmore said the decision was made in part following comments made by her teenage son, Ollie, during Covid lockdowns.

Carrie Bickmore has announced she is leaving The Project for a few months to travel overseas with her family. Picture: The Project

“ … One of the things that my son Ollie said was how much he was going to miss the family time when we were coming out of lockdown, which kind of surprised us because we had a lot of family time!” she continued.

“But we thought, gosh, he still wants to spend time with us and while he does he only has a few years left and then he will fly away so we thought we would seize the moment and do it.”

The 41-year-old TV veteran’s announcement was met with support form her co-hosts, who said they “love this for you so much”.

Her co-hosts support the move. Picture: The Project

The announcement was also made on The Project’s Twitter account, with the program saying it “couldn’t be happier or prouder” of Bickmore.

Bickmore has previously spoken out about her personal struggles during the Covid pandemic, revealing in January her heartache over being separated from family in Western Australia and admitting that at times she’s been unsure if she’d ever see them again.

Her comments were made as frustration grew across the nation regarding West Australian Premier Mark McGowan’s decision to keep the state’s borders closed tight for most of the pandemic.

In September last year, she also spoke about not being able to see her loved ones for Christmas.

“The border is not going to be open to WA or Queensland for Christmas, as much as I want it to be,” she said on the show.

“I have family I want to see and even though [Prime Minister Scott Morrison] is saying they are putting pressure on them, they don’t care.

“I can’t see how they will open.”

Bickmore was born in Adelaide but moved to Perth at a young age, where most of her family still resides. She moved to Melbourne in her early 20s to pursue a career in the media.