Why Petra Bagust quit Breakfast on live TV

Petra Bagust is leaving Breakfast to spend more time with her family, including husband Hamish. Photo / Norrie Montgomery

Television host Petra Bagust has revealed her reasons for quitting her role at TVNZ on live TV - saying she wanted her fans to find out first.

Bagust, who has hosted TV One's morning news show Breakfast for two years, announced her resignation during Friday's live broadcast without telling anyone apart from her husband Hamish and bosses she was doing it.

The mother-of-three tells the latest edition of Woman's Weekly that she wanted to tell her fans first.

"I felt they should be first to know. As a Breakfast host, you kind of belong to them," Bagust, 40, told WW.

"I was dying to tell my kids. I knew they'd be off-the-wall excited, but I couldn't in case they told anyone at school."

Bagust also said the early morning starts had taken their toll.

"The 4am starts for two years have been huge, and initially Hamish was concerned about the impact it would have on the family. I've always been optimistic - and survived pretty well," she told WW.

"But for our family to work right now, the cost of my work is too high ...

"You can only absorb so much, 'Mummy, please don't go to work tomorrow' before it accumulates."

Bagust said she had no plans for the future when she finishes up at Breakfast on December 21 apart from going camping with her children.

At the time of her resignation, Bagust said two years of Breakfast had been a "rollercoaster ride".

"Breakfast is bloody hard work and it takes a lot of effort from an incredibly committed group of people to make it happen.

"I want to say thanks for having me on the team. Bring on summer and 2013."

Bagust isn't the only high-profile presenter leaving TVNZ shortly, with Mark Sainsbury stepping down from a redesigned Close Up at the end of November.

- nzherald.co.nz