Hoda Kotb announced she will be leaving the Today show in early 2025 after more than five years as co-host of the morning program.
Kotb announced the decision in a letter shared with colleagues, Today.com reports.
The departure comes after more than 25 years at NBC News. Kotb previously worked at “Dateline” and co-hosted the fourth hour of “Today” with both Kathie Lee Gifford and Jenna Bush Hager. She took on the role of co-anchor after Matt Lauer left amid sexual misconduct allegations, and worked with Savannah Guthrie and other hosts for five years.
“My time at NBC has been the longest professional love affair of my life,” she wrote in the letter, according to Today.com. “But only because you were by my side during this 26-year adventure.”
Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images/TODAY
Kotb said in her letter that she still plans to “be a part of the NBC family,” but she did not provide details about her role at the network after her departure. She did not provide an exact date for her departure, but said she would “serve through early 2025.”
Kotb recently celebrated her 60th birthday with a segment on Today Plaza. She said it was the emotional moment that prompted her decision to leave.
“I’ve been considering this decision for a while – Am I really ready?” she wrote. “But celebrating my 60th birthday at the Plaza felt like a change. Like a huge, joyful YES you are! I saw it all so clearly: my career in broadcasting has been more than meaningful, a new decade of my life lies ahead of me, and now my daughters and my mother need and deserve a bigger piece of my time. I will miss you all terribly, but I am ready and excited.”
Kotb has two children: Haley Joy, whom she adopted in 2017, and Hope Catherine, whom she adopted in 2019. She had both children with her ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman; the couple split in 2022.
No replacement for Kotb was immediately announced.
