By India McCarty
Hoda Kotb enjoys a slower pace of life with her daughters after exiting the TODAY show last year.
“I’ve slowed everything down,” she said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “I go on bike rides with my kids, we play tennis. Things that I never thought of. When I’m driving them around they’re telling me stories that I wasn’t in the car to [hear] before. Haley came with me to the gym and she sat on the sled and I pushed it.”
Related: TODAY Host Leaves Show So She Can Be an ‘Excellent’ Mom
Kotb announced her departure from the TODAY show last fall, sharing an open letter she wrote to the crew at NBC.
“I know I’m making the right decision, but it’s a painful one. And you all are the reason why,” she wrote. “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.”
Kotb explained that, while her career in broadcasting 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.”
The former TV star also wanted to be there for her youngest daughter Hope, 5, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last year.
“I really wanted to and needed to be here to watch over her. So, whenever she needs anything, and it can happen at night, multiple times, I’m up — I’m up, up, up,” she explained to PEOPLE. “But I would never, ever want Hope to one day grow up and say, ‘Oh, my mom left her job because [of me].’ It wasn’t that alone. But if you look at it cumulatively, it was a part of that decision.”
During a guest appearance on TODAY, Kotb added, “As anyone with a child who has Type 1 [knows], especially a little kid, you’re constantly watching, you’re constantly monitoring, you’re constantly checking, which is what I did all the time when I was at TODAY. You’re distracted.”
“You just get a priority check in your life,” she continued. “I can be here and sweating what’s happening to Hope in the morning and in the night, or I can be there and feel relief that I can see.”
Kotb’s decision to step back from the spotlight and spend more time with her daughters might have been difficult, but it looks like the former anchor is enjoying a slower life.
Read Next: Hoda Kotb Shares Important Reason Why She Left TODAY Show—Her Daughters
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