Hoda Kotb Admits It's 'Terrifying' LeavingTodayShow but Says 'It’s Also Exactly Right'

Mar. 15, 2025

Hoda Kotb.Photo:Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty

Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty

Hoda Kotbis content with herdecision to leave theTodayshow.

During the Friday, Oct. 25 episode ofToday with Hoda & Jenna,Kotb, 60, shared that, while the thought of her leavingTodayis “terrifying,” she feels exiting the show in the months to come is “exactly right.”

“When those twinges come up, like, ‘Should you do it? Is it a mistake?’ … I remind myself that there’s still part of me that’s living right here,” she said. “And that’s normal. Like, let it be. So yeah, it’s scary. Yeah, it’s terrifying — it’s all those things … but it’s also exactly right.”

Kotb also said that she sought advice on her decision to leaveTodayafter working at NBC for 26 years from her close friends, includingMaria Schriver, who appeared as a guest on the episode of the show.

“I feel like it’s more than, ‘Oh I got tired of waking up at 3 a.m.,’ because quite frankly I got used to it … that’s not my complaint. It wasn’t the work, it was the idea that somewhere there was supposed to be a new adventure for me,” Kotb said.

Kotb further explained that she came to the decision to leaveTodayafter “recognizing a peak” she had reached in her career on the show.

“I do not feel that there is an opportunity that would make this get any better than it is today, and I think once that feeling hits you, you’re like, ‘This is it,’ " she said. “It was glorious, it was unforgettable, it was a once in a lifetime. And it’s not sad, it’s beautiful.”

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Kotb is leaving the ‘Today’ show after 26 years (pictured in May 2023).Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Kotb announced that she would bedeparting theTodayshowon Sept. 26, closing out her longtime role of cohosting. In herletterto staffers, she also confirmed she’ll “be working through the beginning of 2025.”

Speaking to PEOPLEearlier this month, Kotb shared how her desire to spend more time with her daughtersHaley, 7, andHope, 5, also spurred her decision to leave the show.

“I’ve kind of been contemplating, wondering, thinking about what I wanted this next chunk of my life to look like as I turned 60. And I like adventure,I like new beginnings… I was wondering, what does it look like for me?” Kotb said.

“I’ve had yearnings, and you know when something’s pulling you? It’s like you either go toward it or you shove it down and say, ‘Nope, this is the way. I’m going to stay here because it’s safe,' ” she continued. “Itdoesmake more sense to stay at NBC. I’m financially secure and I would have job security … But I’ve been watching my kids and I was thinking to myself, I wonder what I’m missing?”

source: people.com