Why Stephen Colbert thinks ‘Late Show’ cancellation ’saved’ his life

Stephen Colbert is finding the silver lining after “The Late Show” cancellation.

The longtime host admitted the decision might have “saved [his] life” in an interview with People for their latest cover story, released Tuesday.

“It takes a lot of bone marrow to do the show every day, and now I’ll be stepping down with enough time, enough energy to do other things that I want to do,” he shared.

The comedian told the outlet he’s ready to enjoy the empty nester stage of his life. He shares three adult children — daughter Madeleine and sons Peter and John — with his wife of 32 years, Evelyn McGee Colbert.

With the last episode of the late-night talk show airing May 21, Colbert said he’ll have more time to work on his passion projects, including writing a new “Lord of the Rings” movie with his son Peter.

“To lose an argument with an adult child over something you thought you knew about. I mean, if you can take it, it’s pretty great,” he gushed, calling this stage of fatherhood “the best.”

When it comes to other projects he’ll strike up in his free time, Colbert said, “I don’t have much better of an answer than most college seniors do, which is I’ve got to finish this first, because it takes almost the entirety of my brain to do this show. So we’ll land this plane and we’ll check out the view from there.”

Colbert, 62, was hired in 2015 to succeed David Letterman, who was retiring as host of “The Late Show” on CBS after more than 20 years.

Although Colbert is now reportedly worth a whopping $75 million and earned a yearly salary of $15 million for the talk show, he reflected on the early days of his marriage when he wasn’t sure he would be able to sustain a comedy career.

“I thought, ‘Oh, wait, I kind of want to have children and was this going to work out? I’ll never be able to afford a house or a family or a car. Am I good enough to do this?’” he recalled.

Colbert revealed that when he was offered the job to take over “The Late Show” from Letterman, he spent four months in therapy before accepting.

He announced the long-running series’ cancellation after nearly 33 years in July 2025, telling viewers that he found out about the decision the previous evening.

“I’m not being replaced,” Colbert clarified. “This is all just going away.”

At the time, CBS claimed they canceled the series as a “purely financial decision” and “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.” 

Colbert teased that his final sign off will be “something simple,” much like his wish for how the show will be remembered by fans.

“I hope they laughed. I hope they felt better at the end of the day,” he said.

“I mean, that’s it. We’re there. We’re the last thing you see,” Colbert added. “A lot of things happen in a day, but we bat last, and so we get the last take that people hear before they go to bed, and I hope it made their day better.”

The final episode of “The Late Show” airs May 21 on CBS at 11:35 p.m. ET.