In the summer of 1991, living on the East End of Long Island, Deborah Norville fell into a brutal depression -- a postpartum one made worse by a singular career setback. Months earlier, she had been pushed off "Today" as co-host a little more than a year after replacing Jane Pauley, a revered figure in morning TV. At just 33, that once high-flying career appeared over.

Then, the phone rang.

An executive at the ABC Radio Network wanted her to host a talk show from home. As she now recalls, the clouds parted and the sun broke through. At the time, she also vowed to herself that "when I get back on TV one day, if I do, then it will be on my terms," she said in a recent phone interview. A year later she'd be at CBS News, then starting in 1995, at "Inside Edition."

That 30-year run has been singular too because after she steps down Wednesday, Norville leaves as longest-running female anchor of a national news program in TV history.

And -- yes -- this is on her own terms, she says, to spend more time with her husband, investment banker Karl Wellner. (Norville's not done with TV, by the way -- she'll host a trivia game show, "The Perfect Line," this fall.)

She spoke recently to Newsday:

[Laughs] I am the best bargain in television but my situation is really different. They made a lovely offer to continue and when I turned them down, they upped the offer. This wasn't about the money. As I've said, there are things I want to do, places I'd like to do them and that didn't coincide with their objectives. [And] for too many years been where I've had to say to my husband -- 'do you understand?' -- as I dashed out the door to cover something. I have a lifetime contract with my husband and I have to honor that.

COVID opened my eyes to the ease with which we can do what we do in varied locations [and] we got it set up so that 'Inside Edition' from my family room looked like it was from the New York studio. I just realized then my time with my husband was more flexible and I wanted to have the same flexibility [going forward] and that was not something they could accommodate.

I can do a whole season worth of shows in a month and half. This is not a woman who says she doesn't want to work hard — lazy I am definitely not -- but they shoot in Georgia and I'll be near my family.

I was the youngest solo female anchor -- blond and blue-eyed, and only 28 years old, and everyone thought I was a twinkie. My only goal was to prove I was not, to try to prove the naysayers wrong [but] I didn't have an end-goal in mind.

When they put me on the program as newsreader, they wanted me to sit with Jane and Bryant [Gumbel] at the end of the half hour before they went into the half-hour local news break. They would settle down on the sofa and I'd sit on a firm seat -- not slouching down but looking like this giant figure hovering over these two beloved people. So I really believe and have always felt that it was the visuals -- it made me look bigger than them and made me loom, and looming is never good.

The press accepted it because it is a juicy story if it was true -- but it wasn't true for me, and as far as I know, it wasn't for Jane ... It was painful for Jane, painful for me. It's always the women who are on the receiving end of this stuff.

I expected it to last three years! [But] before I joined 'Inside Edition' they [CBS} made me an offer to anchor weekend 'Evening News' and become the 'Eye on America' reporter the other four nights of the week. I said thank you very much but I can't be on the road that much and was expecting my second child

I have been blessed beyond measure, and I am grateful to God.

No! I will never leave. I learned a long time ago that you never say goodbye -- you say 'this has been great, and can't wait until the next one.'