Hoda Kotb says she is leaving NBC's 'Today' show early next year

By MARK KENNEDY

AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Hoda Kotb, a fixture at NBC for more than two decades, says she will leave her morning perch on the “Today" early next year, telling staffers “it’s time.”

In a memo to her team and later on air, Kotb said her 60th birthday this summer helped trigger the departure. "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.”

Kotb has co-anchored “Today” with Savannah Guthrie since 2018, filling in after Matt Lauer was fired amid sexual harassment allegations. She first joined NBC News as a correspondent for “Dateline” in 1998, and later joined “Today” in 2007.

Her goodbye note mentioned many of her co-workers, like Jenna Bush Hager and Al Roker: “Savannah: my rock. Jenna: my ride-or-die. Al: my longest friend at 30 Rock.”

“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. I’ll be around. How could I not? Family is family and you all will always be a part of mine,” she wrote.