“Today” show’s Hoda Kotb definitely got everyone’s attention when she announced she was leaving as host to focus on raising her two kids after nearly three decades on NBC News.
On Thursday, the 60-year-old NBC host said that when she celebrated turning 60 last month, it prompted her to make a change in her lifestyle and that was stepping down as host and spending more time with her daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, the “Today” show reported.
“I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new,” Kotb said. “I remembered standing outside looking at these beautiful bunch of people with these gorgeous signs, and I thought, ‘This is what the top of the wave feels like for me.’”
“And I thought it can’t get better, and I decided that this is the right time for me to kind of move on,” she added. “Obviously, I had my kiddos late in life, and I was thinking that they deserve a bigger piece of my time pie that I have. I feel like we only have a finite amount of time.”
Hoda Kotb has announced that she is leaving TODAY early next year. pic.twitter.com/sXuRsDbNnI
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) September 26, 2024
“And so, with all that being said, this is the hardest thing in the world,” the NBC host continued, getting emotional. “It’s kind of a big deal for me. I’ve been practicing so I wouldn’t cry, but anyway, I did.”
Kotb, who has spent 26 years at NBC News, said she won’t be leaving until the first part of next year, but will always be part of the NBC family, the outlet noted.
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Savannah Guthrie — whom Kotb co-anchored the show with for more than 5 years — also broke down and told Hoda how much they loved her and how they “don’t want to imagine this place without” her.
“So it’s complicated because we love you so much, and we don’t want you to ever go,” Guthrie said. “But also I just want to say I am so proud of my friend. You have guts. For someone to leave at the top of their game, to leave something that’s wonderful that you love, where it’s easy and comfortable and beautiful and fun, and say, ‘But I dream bigger for myself into the great unknown.’ You have so much guts. You inspire me. I love you.”
Hoda also hosts the fourth hour of the “Today” show with former President George W. Bush’s daughter Jenna Bush Hager, who also got choked up about her departure.
“It’s not over,” Jenna Bush Hager said. “I’m going to be showing up at your house like the stalker you are to Zac Brown. I will be there on your doorstep, and we are your friends forever.”
In 2013, Kotb began dating financier Joel Schiffman. In 2017, the host announced she’d adopted a little girl, Haley, and two years later shared the news she’d adopted a second daughter, Hope. Later that year, Kotb made headlines with news that she and Schiffman were engaged. However, in January 2022, the host said they’d called off their engagement.
