Hoda Kotb made a surprise announcement on Thursday morning: She’s leaving the Today show on January 1.
Kotb has been at NBC since 1988, working as a correspondent for Dateline, and has co-anchored the morning show alongside Savannah Guthrie since 2018, after Matt Lauer‘s tenure as anchor ended following a sexual harassment scandal.
She’s been a part of Today since 2007.
Today shared a heartfelt message Kotb sent to the show’s staff, which said in part, “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.”
Hoda continued, “I’ve been weighing this decision for quite a while — Am I truly ready? — But, my sixtieth birthday celebration on [New York City’s Rockefeller Plaza] felt like a shift. Like a massive, joyful YES, you are!”
Calling the decision the “hardest thing in the world,” Hoda said her daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, factored into her choice.
“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 expressed, adding, “I feel like we only have a finite amount of time.”
Kotb said, “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.”
Kotb closed by saying, “Happily and gratefully, I plan to remain a part of the NBC family,” adding, “I’ll be around. How could I not? Family is family and you all will always be a part of mine.”
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