Hoda Kotb announces she will be leaving 'Today' in early 2025

Hoda Kotb on Thursday announced she will be leaving NBC's "Today" show early next year after 17 years on the program.

Speaking on the morning show on Thursday, Kotb shared that turning 60 years old in August last year prompted her to rethink her role and make the change.

"I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new," she tearfully revealed while surrounded by her fellow "Today" hosts. She described feeling that the birthday celebration was the "top of the wave" for her.

"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," she said.

"I've been practicing so I wouldn't cry, but anyway, I did," she said.

In a letter written to her colleagues, Kotb said she plans to shift her focus to her daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, and her mother.

"My broadcast career has been beyond meaningful, a new decade of my life lies ahead, and now my daughters and my mom need and deserve a bigger slice of my time pie," she wrote.

Kotb has served as "Today" co-anchor alongside Savannah Guthrie since 2018, and the pair were the program's first all-women anchor team.

On Thursday's show, Guthrie said the team doesn't “want to imagine this place without you."

Although Kotb will be leaving her role after Jan. 1, 2025, she said she would remain part of the NBC family in some smaller capacity.

"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," she said. "I’ll be around. How could I not?"

Source: TMX

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Hoda Kotb announces she will be leaving 'Today' in early 2025