Earlier this morning Hoda Kotb announced that she would be stepping down from her role as host of the ‘Today’ show. Hoda has worked at NBC for 26 years and seven years with Savannah Guthrie.
Before announcing it on air Thursday, she spoke in an exclusive interview with The New York Times. “I just thought the universe was speaking to me…This is a time in life for looking inside you, and figuring out what your yearnings are, your callings — where or what direction you’re headed during this new decade,” she said.
During her announcement on this show today she said, “I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new, I remembered standing outside looking at these beautiful bunch of people with these gorgeous signs, 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…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 said. “I feel like we only have a finite amount of time. And so, with all that being said, this is the hardest thing in the world…It’s kind of a big deal for me,” she said through tears. “I’ve been practicing so I wouldn’t cry, but anyway, I did.”
In an episode full of tears, Guthrie and long-time weatherman Al Roker had a lot to say to Hoda and how much she meant to them. “We love you so much,” Savannah said crying. “And when you look around and see these tears, they’re love. You are so loved. 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.”
Roker kept it short and sweet as he held back tears himself, “I have never known anybody like you, I’ve known you forever, and I love you,” he said.
Hoda clarified that she will still be in the NBC Family, but the exact details of her new role have not been revealed. She will finish out 2024 and start this role sometime in early 2025.
