Hoda Kotb is leaving the ‘Today’ show: ‘I will miss you all’

Hoda Kotb, of NBC’s Today show, announced Thursday morning she’s stepping down after six years coanchoring and more than two decades on air.

Kotb, a beloved TV personality, said she made the decision following her 60th birthday last month.

“I realized it was time for me to turn the page at 60 and try something new,” she said in an emotional on-camera statement.

Kotb will stay with Today through the beginning of next year and said she’d remain in the NBC family. Kotb has coanchored Today with Savannah Guthrie since 2018, filling in after Matt Lauer was fired amid sexual harassment allegations, becoming the show’s first all-woman anchor team. Guthrie was also visibly emotional during Kotb’s announcement and said she didn’t want to “imagine this place” without Kotb around, praising her for her “guts.”

Craig Melvin called Kotb “the heart” of Today and Al Roker said Kotb was the show’s “north star.”

“As I write this, my heart is all over the map,” Kotb wrote in a statement to her colleagues published by Today. “I know I’m making the right decision, but it’s a painful one. And you all are the reason why. They say two things can be right at the same time, and I’m feeling that so deeply right now. I love you and it’s time for me to leave the show.”

She added that it’s time for her to make a shift and be more present with her family, especially her daughters and mother. “[They] deserve a bigger slice of my time pie,” she said. “I will I will miss you all desperately, but I’m ready and excited.”

Kotb joined NBC as a Dateline correspondent in 1998, covering a mix of news stories before joining the Today team in 2007. She initially cohosted the show’s fourth hour with Kathie Lee Gifford.

After graduating from Virginia Tech, Kotb’s first on-air role was at a local CBS affiliate station in Greenville, Miss. From there, she worked up the ranks, serving as a reporter for an ABC affiliate in Illinois in 1988 and a weekend anchor for a CBS affiliate in Fort Myers, Fla., in 1989. Before joining NBC — where she’d remain for nearly three decades — Kotb was an anchor and reporter in New Orleans for a CBS affiliate from 1992 through 1998.

She’s released eight books — a mix of memoirs and children’s books — and has won a mix of awards for her journalism and role as an entertainment personality.

In 2007, Kotb went public with her breast cancer diagnosis, taking the Today show with her while undergoing a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery . She’s remained cancer-free since then, but continues to advocate for breast cancer awareness and has been candid about her journey with fertility. Kotb has two adopted daughters.