Hoda Kotb will soon say goodbye to the Today show.
The longtime morning news anchor announced her exit from the NBC program during the Thursday, Sept. 26 broadcast.
“I just turned 60, and it was such a monumental moment for me when I turned 60 years old, because I started thinking about that decade like, what does that decade mean? What does it hold? What’s it going to have for me? And I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60 and to try something new,” an emotional Kotb told viewers.
She will remain as co-anchor of the program until early 2025, and said she wants to spend more time with her daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5.
“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,” she said. “I feel like we only have a finite amount of time.”
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“And so, with all that being said, this is the hardest thing in the world,” Kotb continued. “I’ve been practicing so I wouldn’t cry, but anyway, I did.”
The newscaster was named co-anchor of Today alongside Savannah Guthrie in 2018, and has been with NBC News for 26 years, previously working at Dateline and on the fourth hour of Today with Kathie Lee Gifford and later with Jenna Bush Hager.
Next year Kotb will shift to a new, still undefined, role at NBC News.
In addition to her on-air announcement Thursday, she sent a letter to Today staffers letting them know she would be leaving the program. Kotb wrote in part, “I will miss you all desperately, but I’m ready and excited.”
Watch the video below of Hoda Kotb announcing her departure.
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