Veteran anchor Chris Matthews, abruptly retiring on air last night at the beginning of his MSNBC show Hardball, apologizing after a series of recent missteps.

Paula Faris is here with that story for us.

Good morning, Good morning, Robin.

Chris Matthews walked into his Washington D.

C studio last night with his family by his side, reportedly telling members of his longtime crew just an hour beforehand that he'd be retiring an on air.

He made it clear this decision was not Hiss.

Let me start with my headline tonight.

I'm retiring overnight.

A stunning announcement.

MSNBC's Chris Matthews out at Hardball is the last hardball on MSNBC, and obviously this isn't for a lack of interest in politics.

And you can tell I have loved every minute of my 20 years.

Is host of hardball the younger generations out there ready to take the reins?

We see them in politics, in the media, in funding for their causes.

They're improving the workplace.

We're talking here about better standards than we grew up with fair standards.

Ah, lot of it has to do with how we talk to each other.

Compliments on a woman's appearance that some men, including May, might have once incorrectly thought, We're okay.

We're never okay.

Not then is certainly not today and for making such comments in the past.

I'm sorry, Matthews, referring to this scathing editorial, which was published Friday in G Q magazine by journalist Laura Bassett, Innit?

Bassett claims Matthews has repeatedly lusted over women in politics on air and goes on to describe unsettling personal encounters she claims to have had with Matthew's behind the camera.

Writing in 2016 right before I had to go on his show and talk about sexual assault allegations against Donald Trump, Matthews looked over at me in the makeup chair next to him and said, Why haven't I've fallen in love with you yet?

Adding that his repeated flirtations undermined my ability to do my job well.

She also points to what she calls a number of on air incidents, describing them as long, exhausting and creepy, using Erin Burnett's appearance on the show as an example.

Coming, coming, coming closer, really close.

What do you think?

You look great.

Matthews, also under fire by several women's organizations after he asked Senator Elizabeth Warren why she believed a woman who accused former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg of pressuring her to have an abortion.

And two weeks ago, Matthews also apologizing to Senator Bernie Sanders for comparing his campaign winds to the Nazis, winning a key battle during World War two.

Overnight.

Bassett, reacting to the news on Twitter, saying, Since calling out Chris Matthews this week has been really rough, the harassment has been invasive, cruel and personal, and it's all worth it if he will never have the platform to demean and objectify us again now.

Matthews made that announcement at the very beginning of his show, then left with his wife and family didn't finish his show.

The timing of this coming as a huge shock to those at the network, But it is believed you guys that MSNBC We use a series of hosts in the interim while they find a permanent replacement for that seven o'clock slot.

Thank you so much.

Hi, everyone.

George Stephanopoulos here.

Thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel.

If you'd like to get more video show highlights and watch live event coverage, click on the right over here to subscribe to our channel.

And don't forget to download the ABC News after breaking news alerts.