James Corden knew hosting The Late Late Show was an "adventure" and never the "final destination."
In a guest spot on The Drew Barrymore Show Monday, the late-night host, 44, shared the reason behind his decision to leave the post after eight years.
"Look it's not easy in any way to walk away from something that is so… I mean I'll never work in a better environment than the one I work in now," he told the actress, 47. "Nothing about leaving the show was to do with not enjoying it. I love it, but the truth is it became a very easy decision because I always knew it was an adventure and I never ever considered it to be the final destination."
Corden then revealed his choice had more to do with the three children he shares with wife Julia Carey: son Max, 11, and daughters Carey, 8, and Charlotte, 5.
The Cats star recalled a poignant moment last year he had with Max when he told him he had to go to work on the weekend for his Amazon Prime series Mammals.
"I was filming on a Sunday and I came downstairs, it was about 6 a.m. and my son, who was 10 at the time, was sat on the stairs and he said, 'Are you working today?' and I said, 'I am,'" Corden recalled. "And he said, 'I thought, well, it's Sunday,' and I said, 'I know, buddy, but this schedule's just all over the place. We just got to get it done because we only have a tiny amount of time before we have to go back and do the show,' and his face just kind of dropped."
The British star added that he also came to the understanding that he was running out of time in another way.
"I got in the car and I called my wife Jules and I said, 'I've realized, best-case scenario we have six more summers where Max is like, even remotely wants to be around us and I cannot waste another one,'" he said.
He added that he felt if he wanted to pursue other work, it couldn't come "at the expense" of his children.
"That is really all it comes down to," he said. "I will be a mess on that last show, I will cry my eyes out. But I will know in my core that the best thing for me and the best thing for us as a family is to put down some roots in London, and it feels absolutely right in every single way."
In November, at the Mammals premiere, Corden elaborated on how he thinks he'll feel when the role comes to an end. "I'm worried about being too emotional. I'm worried about crying too much," Corden told PEOPLE at the time. "But at the same time, I just got to take a breath and know that there's a lot to do between now and then."
"I think we have a hundred to go or something," he continues about his remaining episodes on the show. "That's a lot of TV to-dos. A lot of stuff to put out."
Last April, Corden announced his plans to exit the CBS series. He will leave the longtime role ahead of this summer.
Corden succeeded Craig Ferguson as The Late Late Show host in 2015. During his time in the role, the series gained traction through the viral "Carpool Karaoke" and "Spill Your Guts" segments. The popularity of the "Carpool Karaoke" segment resulted in it becoming an actual show on Apple TV+.
The Drew Barrymore Show airs weekdays on CBS (check local listings).
