Hoda Kotb Reveals the *Exact* Moment She Knew She Had to Leave Today: ‘Something Weird Happened’
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In September 2024, Hoda Kotb announced her plan to leave the Today show in 2025. Why did Kotb make the decision to exit her post at the morning show?
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On September 26, 2024, Kotb made the tearful announcement on Today. “I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new,” she said. “I remembered standing outside looking at these beautiful bunch of people with these gorgeous signs [at her 60th birthday celebration], 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.”
This marked a huge life change for Kotb, who worked as a Today show co-anchor for 5 years and was part of NBC News for 26 years. In part, Kotb wanted to spend more time with her young children.
Why Is Hoda Kotb Leaving Today?
During an October 7, 2024 interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Kotb shared why she decided to leave Today.
The Today show fixture called it a “repotting” chapter of her life. “I think I’m doing this like repotting thing,” she explained. “You know when you pull yourself up by the roots and you’re kind of dangling and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, what am I doing? What’s happening?’ But you know you’re going to land in fertile ground.”
“When I turned 60, something weird happened, man,” Kotb continued. “I turned 60 and we had this beautiful party at the Today show and I looked out at the sea of all the people who came and beautiful signs and so many well wishes and I knew in my heart like, ‘This is it, man. This is what the mountaintop must feel like.’ Like I’d never had that feeling before.”
More: Who will replace Hoda Kotb on Today?
Leaving Today behind will prove to be a huge adjustment for Kotb, who is used to getting up at 3:15 a.m. for work. “What am I gonna do at night?” she asked the late night host. Fallon joked that Kotb can now stay up late, go to concerts, restaurants, and on dates — basically, “do whatever the heck you want.”
“This is going to be totally weird,” she said. “I’ve woken up at this time for, like, 17 years. This is the first time, no alarm, click it off.”
She said that being with Today and NBC has been “the longest love affair of my life.”
Kotb also explained that her decision was largely about spending time with her daughters, Haley and Hope. “You know what, you just have a feeling when you watch them grow. I was like, they need a little more of me and I need more of them, so I think it’s all gonna work out beautifully,” she shared. “But I’m going to be doing stuff at NBC, I’m going to stay in the family.”
In an October 9 interview with People, Kotb gave more insight into her big decision. “I’ve had yearnings, and you know when something’s pulling you? It’s like you either go toward it or you shove it down and say, ‘Nope, this is the way. I’m going to stay here because it’s safe,’” she explained.
Her NBC gig provides job security, but Kotb shared, “I’ve been watching my kids and I was thinking to myself, I wonder what I’m missing?”
She continued, “I knew that I wanted this decade to be different. I looked at my time like a pie. I was like, this is how much time I get, and now what am I going to do with it and how am I going to carve it up? And I wanted it to be filled with more of them.”
Kotb also admitted she’s experienced “guilt” as a parent. “There’s the guilt you carry because you can’t be 100% at work and 100% at home. Something has to give if you want excellence,” she explained. “If you’re going to be excellent at work, something has to give at home. And if you want to be excellent at home, I mean excellent, and do all the things, something has to give at work. It can’t be equal.”
For more on morning shows, check out who Good Morning America’s hosts and anchors are dating or married to in real life.
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