TODAY Host Leaves Show for This Sweet Reason
By Movieguide® Contributor
After 26 years at NBC, Hoda Kotb is officially leaving the TODAY show.
“I just turned 60, and it was such a monumental moment for me when I turned 60 years old, because I started thinking about that decade, like, what does that decade mean? What does it hold? What’s it going to have for me? And I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60 and to try something new,” Kotb said during a recent episode of TODAY.
The NBC anchor announced that she will remain as a co-anchor into early 2025 before moving into a new role at NBC.
“I had my kiddos late in life, and I was thinking that they deserve a bigger piece of the time pie that I have,” Kotb continued. “I feel like we only have a finite amount of time.”
Her co-anchor Savannah Guthrie added, “We love you so much, and when you look — when you see these tears — they’re love, as you are so loved. And honestly, I don’t think any of us can imagine, we don’t want to imagine this place without you. I just want to say I am so proud of my friend. You have guts, for someone to leave at the top of their game, to leave something that’s wonderful, that you love, where it’s easy and comfortable and beautiful and fun and safe….You have so much guts. You inspire me.”
“It’s not over,” co-anchor Jenna Bush Hager said. “We are your friends forever,” while Al Roker added, “I have never known anybody like you. I’ve known you forever, and I love you.”
Kotb elaborated on her decision to leave TODAY in a memo sent to the show’s staff.
“To my TODAY family,” she wrote. “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.”
Kotb called her time with NBC “the longest professional love affair” of her life and acknowledged that “so many of my professional relationships have become some of my most cherished friendships.”
“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,” she concluded.
Kotb shared a heartfelt Instagram post following her announcement, writing, “Thank you for the beautiful posts and notes. I’ve read them all… It’s almost too much for my heart to carry… so i will let it overflow — i love you more than you know.”
Movieguide® previously reported on how becoming a mother deepened Kotb’s faith:
The anchors of the TODAY show discussed what their faith means to them and how they came to have a relationship with God.
For Al Roker and Hoda Kotb, their faith really came to life when they started having kids. Their desire for their children to have a strong foundation and someone to trust in to keep them safe caused the hosts to grow close to the Lord.
“I think my faith evolved. But it really does happen when those children come. That’s really it really – I always remember my mother going, ‘God give me strength,’ you know. And yes, I hear those words,” Roker said. “But it’s important to give [your kids] that foundation.”
“I feel like my path to faith has been evolving throughout my life,” Kotb added. “Each day I have a little journal where I write, ‘Dear God, thank you for this precious day.’ And I feel Him all the time, more so now than I think I have ever before.”
“He used to be someone I was mad at. Like, when my dad died, I was mad at Him,” Kotb continued. “All of a sudden, in due time, here I sit with two kids and I think to myself, God has been present, sitting here. I asked Him on bended knee for Haley and Hope, and they came.”
