NBC’s Today show co-anchor Hoda Kotb announced she is leaving the show after five years as co-anchor, and nearly three decades at NBC. Kotb is the co-anchor of Today alongside Savannah Guthrie, and also the co-host of Today’s fourth hour alongside Jenna Bush Hager. Kotb will stay in her current role until the beginning of 2025, and will remain with NBC in some capacity beyond leaving Today.
The 60-year-old journalist and broadcaster made the announcement Thursday in a letter to Today staff, which the show published online. Kotb wrote in part: “As I write this, my heart is all over the map. I know I’m making the right decision, but it’s a painful one. And you all are the reason why. 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. 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. I will miss you all desperately, but I’m ready and excited.”Happily and gratefully, I plan to remain a part of the NBC family, the longest work relationship I’ve been lucky enough to hold close to my heart. I’ll be around. How could I not? Family is family and you all will always be a part of mine.”
Kotb also announced the news on-air during Thursday morning’s broadcast, surrounded by her colleagues, including Savannah Guthrie, Jenna Bush Hager, and Al Roker. Kotb noted her daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, as motivation for the decision, sharing: “I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new. This is the right time for me to move on.”
Kotb has co-anchored Today with Guthrie, 52, since early 2018; making history as the first-ever pair of female co-hosts of Today. Kotb has hosted the Today show’s fourth-hour broadcast at 10 a.m. since September 2007. She was joined by co-host Kathie Lee Gifford in April 2008, and Bush-Hager later took on the co-hosting role in August 2019 (following Gifford’s departure).
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