After more than 2 decades as an NBC staple, Hoda Kotb has announced that she will be departing the TODAY show early next year.
“They say two things can be right at the same time, and I’m feeling that so deeply right now. I love you and it’s time for me to leave the show,” she wrote in a memo to staffers.
“I’ve been weighing this decision for quite a while – Am I truly ready? But, my sixtieth birthday celebration on the Plaza felt like a shift,” Kotb continued. “Like a massive, joyful YES, you are! I saw it all so clearly: my broadcast career has been beyond meaningful, a new decade of my life lies ahead, and now my daughters and my mom need and deserve a bigger slice of my time pie.”
The beloved host made the announcement to fans on today’s episode of the show.
Hoda Kotb has announced that she is leaving TODAY early next year. pic.twitter.com/sXuRsDbNnI
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) September 26, 2024
Hoda Kotb’s career with NBC began in 1998, when she joined the network as a correspondent for Dateline.
Nearly a decade later, she joined TODAY in 2007 as one of the original cohosts. In fact, she and her co-host, Savannah Guthrie, made history as the first-ever pair of female co-hosts of the morning show.
Hoda Kotb Leaving ‘TODAY’ to Focus on Daughters Haley and Hope
In 2007, Hoda Kotb went through a heartbreaking breast cancer battle, after which she was unable to conceive. She adopted her first child, Haley Joy, in 2017. Two years later, Kotb and ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman adopted their second daughter, Hope Catherine.
Ahead of her TODAY show departure, Kotb purchased a home in the suburbs, hoping to give her daughters the best childhood possible.
“They’re so excited to have their own space,” she explained on an episode of Today. “They’re excited about a reading chair, they’re excited about having a beanbag chair, and their bed — that kind of stuff.”
“It’s all new — new kids, new school, new things, new everything,” Kotb continued. “It’s funny because all I could think of was I want my house for the kids to feel warm and cozy and a place where they want to hang. And that’s it.”