Hoda Kotb may be stepping away from her time at the Today show, but she didn’t make the decision lightly.
While the 60-year-old shocked viewers on Sept. 26 by announcing she was leaving the morning show after almost two decades, she explained the two people who inspired her new chapter: daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, 5.
“Obviously I had my kiddos late in life, and I was thinking that they deserve a bigger piece of my time pie that I have,” Kotb shared on Today. “I feel like we only have a finite amount of time. And so, with all that being said, this is the hardest thing in the world.”
The veteran journalist, who worked at NBC News for years before joining Today in 2007, also penned a letter to her colleagues at the network, published by Today.com Sept. 26.
“My sixtieth birthday celebration on the Plaza felt like a shift,” she added. “Like a massive, joyful YES, you are! I saw it all so clearly: 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. I will miss you all desperately, but I’m ready and excited.”