Martin Bashir has quit the BBC.
Martin Bashir
The 58-year-old journalist and news anchor has decided to step down from the broadcaster due to ongoing health issues.
Martin was diagnosed with COVID-19 last year and also recently underwent heart surgery.
Jonathan Munro, the deputy director of BBC News, said: "Martin Bashir has stepped down from his position as the BBC's religion editor, and is leaving the corporation.
"He let us know of his decision last month, just before being readmitted to hospital for another surgical procedure on his heart.
"Although he underwent major surgery toward the end of last year, he is facing some ongoing issues and has decided to focus on his health.
"We wish him a complete and speedy recovery."
Last year, following pressure from Princess Diana's family, the BBC director general, Tim Davie, commissioned an independent inquiry to look into how Bashir persuaded the late royal to speak on camera for an explosive 'Panorama' interview in 1995.
In 2019, the journalist competed in Simon Cowell's 'Celebrity X Factor' after being inspired by his late brother Tommy who had muscular dystrophy, the genetic condition that sees the muscles in the body weaken and eventually waste away.
He said: "The real reason though, why I'm here, is that I'm one of five children and my precious brother Tommy was born with muscular dystrophy.
"When you grow up with a child and you fight over toys and you're aged four and he never fights back and then by the time he's 13 and he can't feed himself, you feel that you have no excuse for turning down opportunities.
"Tommy died in 1991 and every time I faced a challenge I've heard him whispering 'what excuse do you have? you have no excuse, you've never sung but someone's come to you and said give it shot' and that's my motivation."