Hoda Kotb revealed her shocking decision to leave The Today Show was partially inspired by her daughter’s recent health scare.
Kotb’s five-year-old daughter Hope was hospitalized in the ICU in 2023. While speaking to People about her daughter’s health, Kotb did not disclose what caused the medical crisis, but noted that Hope is “thriving” now as they’ve been working on long-term medical solutions.
“We’re in a place where Hope is thriving. She is improving, we’re watching her, and I think that as time goes on, we’ll have a better handle on it, but we’re already seeing great differences,” she said. “We have really excellent care, I have people who are helping us out. I feel like she is finding steady footing.”
She explained that she felt like the demands of hosting The Today Show and Today With Hoda & Jenna were cutting into her time with her family.
“There’s the guilt you carry because you can’t be 100% at work and 100% at home. Something has to give if you want excellence,” she said. “If you’re going to be excellent at work, something has to give at home. And if you want to be excellent at home, I mean excellent, and do all the things, something has to give at work. It can’t be equal.”
Though she hasn’t disclosed the nature of Hope’s medical emergency, Kotb has previously said it was “a scary stretch.”
Kotb admitted to People that the “safe” option would be to stay on Today.
“It does make more sense to stay at NBC. I’m financially secure and I would have job security. I mean, why would you ever not do that? But I’ve been watching my kids and I was thinking to myself, I wonder what I’m missing?” she told People.
Kotb, who has been open about her dating life on Today, also admitted that she looks forward to having more of a social life now that she’ll no longer have to wake up at 3:30 in the morning every single day.
“To have kind of a social life will be new for me,” she said. “I went to a barbecue and I was up till 9 p.m. and I felt like I was on a bender. I go, ‘I’ve got to go.’ And everybody’s like, ‘Why?’ I go, ‘Because it’s 9 p.m.’ But I thought, you know what? I’m not going to be playing beat the clock all the time anymore.”
Kotb announced that she will be staying on Today through the rest of the year into early 2025.
With her exit, NBC will have to find someone to replace her on two of their biggest daytime programs.
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