Catt Sadler quits 'E! News' after discovering co-star Jason Kennedy earns twice as much

The host revealed her plans to leave the network after 12 years

Catt Sadler attends the Fashion Island's StyleWeekOC Presented By SIMPLY on September 16, 2017 in Newport Beach, California. Credit: Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images.

Catt Sadler has quit E! News after reportedly discovering that male co-star Jason Kennedy earns twice as much as she does.

After 12 years, Sadler made the decision to leave her "dream job" with the show on Tuesday. Sadler's contract was about to expire, and E! wanted to renew it.

However, during that time she found out that her co-host and friend made twice her pay.

The TV host told People that she was “informed and made aware that my male equivalent at the network who I started with the same year and have come up with doing essentially similar jobs, if not the same job, wasn’t just making a little bit more than me but was making double my salary and has been for several years.”

“That was really hard to swallow, but you know information is supposed to be power and when my team began negotiations knowing what we knew, that was the barometer in which I expected to be paid, based on the law and based on what I know to be fair. And what I believe in my heart of hearts is reasonable.

“It’s almost insulting because you know you work really hard," Sadler said of learning about the pay gap. "I’m a single mom of two kids. I’ve given my all to this network. I’ve sacrificed time away from my family and I have dedicated my entire career to this network. And when you learn something like that, it makes you feel very small and underappreciated and undervalued. It’s heartbreaking.”

In addition to her E! News hosting duties, Sadler is a single mum of two and took on extra responsibility and work hours hosting the two-hour daytime show Daily Pop.

While Sadler attempted to negotiate with the network to extend her contract, she said, "not only did E! refuse to pay me as much as my male counterpart, but they didn’t come close — nowhere close, not even remotely close.”

An E! spokesperson provided a statement on behalf of the network and Kennedy saying, “E! compensates employees fairly and appropriately based on their roles, regardless of gender. We appreciate Catt Sadler’s many contributions at E! News and wish her all the best following her decision to leave the network.”

One thing she wants to make clear, though, is that there's no bad blood between she and Kennedy.

“Jason Kennedy is one of my best friends in the whole wide world," she said. "He is like a brother to me. And in no way do I want this to reflect poorly on him."

She continued to profusely defend Kennedy saying, "Jason is a class act … It’s important that people don’t vilify him because he isn’t the problem — the system’s the problem, the structure’s the problem. And I really do mean that. Because that’s been a hard part of this whole thing because I love him dearly. And to be honest, he has been such a champion for me in every sense. But it’s not his decision.”

While she's sad about her decision to leave E! she wants to be an "agent of change" when it comes to equal pay.