She has spent 15 years getting up early to broadcast to bleary-eyed viewers.

Now Fiona Phillips has surprised her bosses at GMTV by announcing that she is quitting to spend more time with her family.

The 47-year-old broadcaster, the main presenter of the breakfast programme, will leave at the end of this year - halfway through her £1.5million contract.

She described it as the 'hardest decision she had ever made' but said she had other responsibilities in her life.

'The hardest decision':  Fiona Phillips, pictured with co-host Andrew Castle, is quitting GMTV after 12 years on the sofa

In a statement released by her agent, she said: 'I've been thinking about it for a long time.

'I love the job but I've got other responsibilities  -  the children, a home life and an elderly dad who needs me  -  and I've recognised that I can't have it all.'

Telling her own story in a national daily, Miss Phillips likened the decision to leave GMTV to 'jumping off a cliff and hoping someone will save me halfway down'.

'So right now I'm somewhere between the top of the cliff and the ground, feeling bilious about cutting my ties with the job I love, yet knowing I've got to move on,' she wrote in the Daily Mirror.

She said despite chatting to prime ministers, Tory leaders and celebrities such as Victoria and David Beckham, it was the 'so-called ordinary folk' who touched her most.

Miss Phillips said the turning point was her father's sickness.

That's all, folks: Fiona surprised bosses at GMTV by announcing that she is quitting to spend more time with her family.

'Now my dad is ill, and I have finally discovered I can't have it all.

'Even though I scaled back my commitment to GMTV to three and four-day weeks a while ago, I've got to the point where I feel like I'm 'dropping balls' all over the place.'

She said with the pressures of being a 'good mum, a good daughter, a good wife and a good professional' it was not possible to 'still live life to the full'.

'I love my job. I worked hard for years to get it, I'm lucky to have it, but in the scheme of things it means nothing when life feels as though it's passing by and I'm not on the journey.

'The children ask every night: 'Are you working tomorrow?' If I say yes they groan, if I say no they shout 'Yay! and deal out high-fives all round.'

Then there's her husband who increasingly says: 'You're so busy with the children, your parents, your work, I'm just like the lodger around here.'

She said: 'So instead of ditching the children, the parents, or him, it's the job that had to go.'

And in a symbolic end to the relationship with GMTV, the popular broadcaster had her long locks lopped off.

'Free at last!'

Miss Phillips, who is one of the highest-paid women in television, joined GMTV in 1993 as an entertainment correspondent.

She was quickly promoted to become the show's Los Angeles correspondent, where she covered stories including the Michael Jackson alleged child molestation case, the Los Angeles earthquake of 1994 and the OJ Simpson trial.

In 1997, she was promoted to the top job on the GMTV sofa and has since been the show's main presenter alongside other hosts including Andrew Castle and Ben Sheppard.

Family woman: With husband Martin Frizell - the couple have two children together

She is married to the programme's editor, Martin Frizell. The couple have two sons aged nine and six.

Miss Phillips has not yet made clear what her future career holds, but it is likely she will stay in television. Her agent said last night: 'Fiona is leaving GMTV but she is not leaving television.'

The news came as a shock to GMTV, which paid tribute to her service.

Director of programmes Peter McHugh said: 'It's 12 years since I appointed Fiona as a presenter at GMTV and she's been absolutely wonderful.

'She will be sorely missed by the viewers and everyone at GMTV, but after all those years of getting up at 4am I can understand why she wants a change.

'Her honesty and openness have helped make GMTV the success it is. She'll be a tough act to follow.'

Fiona with Heather Mills during her infamous meltdown on GMTV last year

Last November, it emerged that she had been approached by Gordon Brown to take on an advisory role in his Government, although it came to nothing.

She took part in the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing alongside Brendan Cole in 2005.

Other highlights of her career included a high-profile interview with Michael Barrymore in September 2002 about the death of Stuart Lubbock in his swimming pool, and she has regularly interviewed the Beckhams.

She started her career in independent radio working for local stations County Sound, Hereward Radio and Radio Mercury before joining the BBC's South and East Weekend Programme as co-presenter.

Prior to joining GMTV she took a job as a reporter with Sky News, before becoming its entertainment editor.