Hoda Kotb, the longtime cohost of NBC’s Today show, announced Thursday that she is leaving the program.
“I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new,” she said.
She referenced how her 60th birthday celebration on the show served as an inflection point.
“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.”
Kotb said she would like to spend more time with her children, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5.
“They deserve a bigger piece of my time pie that I have,” she said. “I feel like we only have a finite amount of time.”
Kotb will stay on the show through early 2025 and will still be part of the NBC network, though her new capacity was not specified.
“We love you so much, and when you look around and you see these tears, they’re love,” Today co-host Savannah Guthrie said. “You are so loved, and honestly … we don’t wanna imagine this place without you.”
Kotb has worked at NBC for 26 years. She spent 10 years working with Dateline and joined the Today show in 2007.
“I have never known anybody like you, and I’ve known you forever,” Today host Al Roker said. “You’ve been the heart of this show for a long time, and there’s no replacing that.”
SOURCE: NPR
