Hoda Kotb announced she is leaving the “Today” show early in 2025 after more than five years co-anchoring the morning program.
Kotb announced the decision in a letter that was shared with colleagues, Today.com reported.
The departure comes after more than 25 years at NBC News. Kotb previously worked at “Dateline,” and served as the co-host of the fourth hour of “Today” with both Kathie Lee Gifford and Jenna Bush Hager. She stepped into the co-anchor role after Matt Lauer left amid sexual misconduct allegations, and spent five years working alongside Savannah Guthrie and other hosts.
“My time at NBC has been the longest professional love affair of my life,” she wrote in the letter, according to Today.com. “But only because you’ve been beside me on this twenty-six-year adventure.”
Kotb said in her letter that she still plans to “remain a part of the NBC family,” but did not elaborate what her role at the network would be after departing. She did not give an exact date for her departure, but said she would “be working through the beginning of 2025.”
Kotb recently celebrated her 60th birthday with a segment on the Today Plaza. She said that emotional moment spurred her to make the decision to leave.
“I’ve been weighing this decision for quite a while — Am I truly ready?” she wrote. “But, my sixtieth birthday celebration on the Plaza felt like a shift. 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. I will miss you all desperately, but I’m ready and excited.”
Kotb has two children: Haley Joy, who she adopted in 2017, and Hope Catherine, who she adopted in 2019. She shared both children with ex-fiancée Joel Schiffman; the couple separated in 2022.
A replacement for Kotb was not immediately announced.
Source : Cbs News
