Ricki Lake has explained why she quit her successful TV chat show

Ricki Lake's outlook on life was changed by 9/11.

The 58-year-old TV star hosted her popular chat show between 1993 and 2004, but Ricki's outlook changed when she witnessed the 2001 terrorist attack in New York City at first hand.

During an appearance on the On Par with Maury Povich podcast, Ricki shared: "I could have done it for probably a decade longer."

Ricki Lake was near the top of the TV ratings at the time, but she felt ready for a major change after witnessing the terrorist attacks in New York.

Ricki said: "I made that choice. 9/11 was a huge trajectory shift in my life. Every aspect of my life changed from witnessing that experience that day from my West Village apartment."

Ricki recalled being "freaked out" by 9/11 and she subsequently decided that she wanted to overhaul her life.

She explained: "I was so freaked out watching that plane fly down the Hudson and hit that building.

"I had a two-month-old and a four-year-old. So I was a lactating new mother protecting my cubs, you know?

"I mean, I just felt like the world was coming to an end that day. And I said to myself — I had an epiphany on the roof of my building as I watched it all unfold — that I would leave New York."

At the time, Ricki still had years to run on her TV contract. However, she decided she wanted to quit the show and her marriage to Rob Sussman.

The chat-show host - who was married to Rob between 1994 and 2004 - recalled: "I would leave my job and I would ultimately leave my marriage. And it took a lot of planning.

"It took a couple years to finish my contract. I couldn't [immediately] walk away from my show, but I knew I wasn't going to renew beyond the term that I had agreed to."