Before breaking the news on television, Hoda Kotb penned an emotional letter to the “Today” staff on Thursday about her decision to step down after more than 25 years with NBC News.
“As I write this, my heart is all over the map,” she wrote in the letter obtained by . “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,” the journalist, 60, continued. “I love you and it’s time for me to leave the show.”
Kotb has been at NBC News for nearly three decades, breaking down her timeline after working at “Dateline” and as the co-host of the fourth hour of “Today” with Kathie Lee Gifford and then Jenna Bush Hager.
“My time at NBC has been the longest professional love affair of my life,” she explained. “But only because you’ve been beside me on this 26-year adventure. Looking back, the math is nuts. 26 years at NBC News — 10 years at ‘Dateline,’ seven on the seven o’clock hour, 16 on the ten o’clock hour.
“I’m picturing your faces and your families and all the ways you’ve lifted me up and inspired me,” she went on to write. “That’s my heart singing. So many of my professional relationships have become some of my most cherished friendships.”
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Hoda also reflected on her connection to specific members of the “Today” family.
“Savannah [Guthrie]: my rock,” she gushed. “Jenna [Bush Hager]: my ride-or-die. Al [Roker]: my longest friend at 30 Rock.”
She went on to call co-hosts Craig Melvin, Carson Daly, Sheinelle Jones and Dylan Dreyer her “family” — and producers Libby Leist, Tom Mazzarelli and Talia Parkinson-Jones her “fearless leaders.”
She wrote, “I will miss each and every one of you at ‘Today’ desperately. I’ve been weighing this decision for quite a while — ‘Am I truly ready?’ But, my 60th birthday celebration on the Plaza felt like a shift. Like a massive, joyful: ‘YES, you are!'”
Kotb recalled, “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.”
The Daytime Emmy winner, who is the mother of Haley, 7, and Hope, 4, clarified that she will “be working through the beginning of 2025.”
“There’s plenty of time to talk about what’s ahead for all of us,” Kotb concluded. “But one thing I know for sure right now is this: everything’s going to be just fine. The Peacock’s feathers are never ruffled… no matter who comes or goes. ‘Today’ and its amazing people — all of you — never waver. You always weather change with grace and guts.”
Kotb noted that while she is leaving “Today,” that does not mean she is leaving the network.
“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 wrote. “I’ll be around. How could I not? Family is family and you all will always be a part of mine.”
During her announcement Thursday, Kotb was joined by Guthrie, 52, Bush Hager, 42, Roker, 70, Melvin, 45, and Jones, 46.
“I just turned 60, and it was such a monumental moment for me because I started thinking about that decade,” she told them. “I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60 and to try something new.”
Kotb called her decision “kind of a big deal” and “the hardest thing in the world.”
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