After 17 long, beautiful, and rewarding years, Hoda Kotb has made the bittersweet decision to leave the Today morning show — and it comes as a shocker to many! The broadcast journalist will be stepping away from her anchoring duties in early 2025, though she won’t be leaving NBC altogether and will still remain part of the network’s family. Hoda made the emotional announcement in a letter to the mornings show’s staff and also shared the news on air. Her focus is now shifting towards her family.
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Her 60th birthday led her to the decision.
“I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new,” she said, according to Today.com. “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.”
Hoda is going to focus on her kids.
Hoda will be shifting her focus to 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. And so, with all that being said, this is the hardest thing in the world.”
She wrote a letter to the 'Today' staff.
“To my TODAY family, As I write this, my heart is all over the map,” Hoda wrote in a letter that was shared Thursday, September 26. “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,” she continued. “My time at NBC has been the longest professional love affair of my life. But only because you’ve been beside me on this twenty-six-year adventure.
“Looking back, the math is nuts. 26 years at NBC News – Ten years at Dateline, seven on the seven o’clock hour, sixteen on the ten o’clock hour. I’m picturing your faces and your families and all the ways you’ve lifted me up and inspired me. That’s my heart singing,” she shared. “So many of my professional relationships have become some of my most cherished friendships. Savannah: my rock. Jenna: my ride-or-die. Al: my longest friend at 30 Rock. Craig, Carson, Sheinelle and Dylan: my family. Libby, Mazz and Talia: my fearless leaders. I will miss each and every one of you at TODAY desperately.”
Hoda has been contemplating the decision.
“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. Like a massive, joyful YES, you are!” she wrote. “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. I will miss you all desperately, but I’m ready and excited.”
Hoda went on to explain that she’ll be continuing to work through the beginning of 2025, sharing “there’s plenty of time to talk about what’s ahead for all of us. But one thing I know for sure right now is this: everything’s going to be just fine.”
She plans to remain tied to NBC.
“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,” she said. “I’ll be around. How could I not? Family is family and you all will always be a part of mine. Love, Hoda.”
Her co-anchors shared how they feel.
“We love you so much,” Savannah said on Today. “And when you look around and see these tears, they’re love. You are so loved. We don’t want to imagine this place without you.”
Jenna Bush Hager also shared some words. “It’s not over,” she 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.”
Sheinelle Jones said, “Hoda has a relationship with every single person on this couch in her own way, so I think we’re all just kind of wrestling with it inside. But we also know what a dynamic mom you are, and presence you are. And your whole movement with wellness, you are going to change the world. And we know it.”
Al Roker spoke about their friendship. “I have never known anybody like you,” he said. “I’ve known you forever, and I love you.”
Craig Melvin also offered some words for Hoda. “People in this business, when that little red light, it goes off, they’re different people,” he said. “We’ve worked with all these people before. You’re the opposite. That little red light goes off, you are exactly like people see you in the morning — just the biggest heart.”
