The beloved broadcaster shared the news while seated alongside co-hosts Jenna Bush Hager, Savannah Guthrie, Sheinelle Jones, Al Roker and Craig Melvin, who all had tears in their eyes.
Kotb explained that her recent milestone birthday put her life into perspective, realizing she needed to “turn the page” and focus more on being a mom to daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, 4.
“I decided this is the right time for me to kind of move on. And so with all that being said, this is the hardest thing in the world,” she explained.
“I’m not gonna be here past the first of the year. I’m gonna stay in the NBC family, but it’s kind of a big deal for me.”
However, Kotb told her co-workers-turned-friends that they weren’t getting rid of her anytime soon.
“I don’t know what to say except for, ‘You don’t leave family,’ so I’m gonna be haunting you in your lives for a long, long time,” she said to Guthrie and Bush Hager.
“It is magical and powerful and it feels like that here, and you’re who I come to when I’m feeling joyful, when I’m feeling unsure, you are who I come to, and you believed in me first.”
A source told Page Six that Kotb made her decision after moving to the suburbs of New York City to give her daughters a more “normal” life.
“It’s heartbreaking for everyone, but Hoda wants to be able to walk her kids to school,” the insider told us.
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