Through a haze of tears and emotion, Diane Sawyer said farewell Friday to ABC's "Good Morning America."
"And for one more time, good morning America," Sawyer said at the top of the show, warning it would be a heavy Kleenex day.
"My heart is smiling," she said. "The privilege of sharing my mornings with all of you has been more than I can say."
"We will be smiling, we will be laughing," co-host Robin Roberts said at the top of the two-hour broadcast. "But, put on some waterproof mascara if you're at home, because we will share the joys of happiness and appreciation for the queen of morning television."
And so they went, honoring Sawyer's more-than-a-decade run on "GMA" with highlights ranging from serious interviews with world leaders to a clip of her slipping and falling in the snow with Charles Gibson.
Roberts joked that all morning Sawyer was in a fog, but added this was the day to be that way.
Sawyer is leaving "GMA" to become the anchor of ABC's "World News," where she's replacing Charles Gibson, who retires Dec. 18. She'll start Dec. 21. George Stephanopoulos will replace Sawyer starting Monday on "GMA."
Sawyer said early in the show that the crew had fun at her expense, too.
"One of our cameramen came in this morning looking for George Stephanopoulos," she said.
Much of the week has been a look back at Sawyer's stay on "GMA," which, when she started there, was supposed to be temporary. She estimated she's circled the globe 14 times since then.
Sawyer's eyes were filled with tears for much of the show, and at one point, the four on-air staffers - Sam Champion, Chris Cuomo, Sawyer and Roberts - all stopped for a group hug while tears flowed freely.
"Once again, we'll take a break and collect ourselves," Sawyer said at a different point after Stephanopoulos, and newly named news-reader Juju Chang joined the crew.
Perhaps fearing she wouldn't make it through without breaking down, Sawyer's biggest contribution to Friday's telecast, a highlight reel, was on tape.
"When you see that, you realize nobody does it better than Diane Sawyer," Champion said.
"That is humbling to watch for me as an interviewer," Cuomo said after a clip of Sawyer's big gets.
Cuomo is leaving the show, too, to become co-anchor of "20/20."
For the final hour, the studio was filled with show staffers, friends and well-wishers. The emotions were capped near the end, when the producers brought in 25 children whose parents were killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Sawyer had followed the kids as infants.
Near the end, a clip played of staffers singing "Build Me Up Buttercup," one of Sawyer's favorites.
"Thank you for the wonderful memories, and love, and I know it will continue," Roberts said. "The best part of life is when your family become your friends and your friends become your family."
Tears in her eyes, Sawyer turned to the crowd before her.
"Can we have a giant group hug," Sawyer said, plunging herself into the crowd as the show ended.
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