Hoda Kotb, the co-host of NBC’s morning show, “Today,” is leaving her position early next year, she announced Thursday.
Kotb, one of the most famous faces on NBC, has co-hosted the program with Savannah Guthrie since 2017, taking over from Matt Lauer, who was fired following allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior at work.
“It was time for me to turn the page at 60,” Kotb said on “Today” Thursday while holding back tears. “I decided this is the right time for me to move on. I obviously had my kiddos late in life and I was thinking that they deserve a bigger piece of my time pie that I have.”
Kotb is viewed inside NBC as a crucial part of the “Today” show’s connective tissue, since she hosts both the top two hours of as well as the 10 am “Hoda & Jenna” talk show.
She said added that it was the “hardest decision of her life.” Kotb has two young daughters that she adopted and wants to spend more time with them.
Kotb joined NBC in 1998 as a correspondent on the “Dateline” newsmagazine. She was later named the co-host of the 10 am hour of “Today” in 2008 with Kathie Lee Gifford until 2019, when Jenna Bush Hager took over the role.
Guthrie said that “we don’t want to imagine this place without you, so it’s complicated because we love you so much and we don’t ever want you to go away.” However, she told her that she has “guts for someone to leave at the top of their game.”
Kotb’s exit represents one of the biggest changes to the morning television landscape in at least a decade. Shows like “Today” and ABC’s “Good Morning America” are highly profitable parts of their parent companies and are cultural icons, even as the broadcast business shrinks overall.
Network executives strive for consistency and when transitions have to happen, they manage the comings and goings very carefully, since so many ratings points are at stake.
In a letter to “Today” staffers, Kotb said “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.”
NBC did not immediately name a successor for Kotb, and it likely will not do so for months.
This story has been updated with additional context and color.
