Fox News host and longtime Donald Trump nemesis Megyn Kelly may be leaving the highly watched news network after the 2016 presidential election.

Kelly, whose contract with the cable network expires later this year, told Variety she keeping her "options open."

"I don't know what's going to happen. I've had a great 12 years here, and I really like working for [Fox CEO] Roger Ailes. I really like my show, and I love my team. But you know, there's a lot of brain damage that comes from the job," she said.

"There was probably less brain damage when I worked in the afternoon. I was less well known. I had far less conflict in my life. Would you consider your own talk show? I've thought about that. I don't know what the market looks like for that in 2016. Many people have tried and failed. I do love covering the news. I just don't think that's the perfect thing for me," she added.

Kelly has interviewed recently with several major media outlets, and some see this as a public negotiation strategy. But her remarks also come amid a protracted war waged on her by billionaire businessman Donald Trump.

Trump's one-sided feud with the Fox News anchor (she rarely responds) dates back to August 2015, when Kelly moderated the first GOP primary debate. In that first showdown between the Republican candidates, Kelly appeared to catch Trump off guard with a question about his treatment of women.

"You call women you don't like 'fat pigs,' 'dogs,' 'slobs,' and 'disgusting animals,'" she said. "Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president?"

Trump responded with remarks about how "political correctness" is destroying the country. He complained after the debate that Kelly's questions were "unfair" and "not nice."

The Republican candidate later suggested in an interview with CNN that Kelly might have been menstruating during the debate. This touched off an ongoing public spat between the two in which Kelly has remained mostly silent, while Trump has raged on.

Kelly has also received numerous death threats since the August 2015 GOP debate, prompting her to abandon most of social media.

"It has not been enjoyable. I wish it hadn't happened. I hope it will stop — his focus on me," she told Variety. "If he's determined not to stop, there's nothing I can do. I don't like being the story."

"I think it raises real First Amendment issues. I've seen what's happened with Michelle Fields [a former Breitbart News reporter who brought charges against Trump's campaign manager after he grabbed her in March] and in my own world, there's another side to this behavior. It poses real risks to the person under attack," she added.

Though Fox's top brass has stood up for Kelly against Trump's ongoing personal attacks, many of the network's top personalities have remained silent.

"Fox News has been in a tough position. They care about me and they are not afraid of a fight, but we're in unchartered territory," she told Variety. "I've had many conversations with [Ailes] about the situation. I think it's been hard on him, too."

"I don't think he's enjoyed one piece of this. He can see what happens in my life when Trump starts off. He really wants him to stop, but on the other hand, he's not going to run a news channel that doesn't provide access to the Republican frontrunner for president," she added.

Earlier, in an interview with CBS News' Charlie Rose, Kelly said she doesn't want to just up and abandon Fox.

"I'm not saying I want to leave Fox News, I'm saying I want to add – I think I'd like to add – to what I'm doing," she said. "But I have to figure it out, Charlie, because I don't want to take away more time from my family."

As to whether she will stay with Fox after the election, Kelly told Variety, "Never say never."