Hoda Kotb’s final episode on the Today show was as emotional as expected.
The 60-year-old TV host is officially leaving the morning news program after 26 years at NBC. Her last segment got tearful, with her colleagues sharing a moving video tribute to her including a series of messages from her co-workers and pictures of her time at Today.
“That was not fair,” she said after watching the video as she wiped away tears. She also thanked her colleagues who sat beside her during the show, including Carson Daly, Al Roker, Savannah Guthrie, and Craig Melvin, the latter of whom is taking over her responsibilities at Today.
“You are going to be fantastic. You’re going to bring it home,” she told Melvin, whose first broadcast is on January 13.
Kotb’s 8am segment continued with some more special moments, including a pre-recorded video and a gift from Jamie Lee Curtis.
“I did have something made for you by Moy Thompson, and it’s one of my orbs, and it says, ‘Every Today with you is a better day,’ and the dates of your time at Today,” Curtis said. “So from all of your fans, your friends, me included. Thank you for being such a shining example to all of us of what’s really important, and the reason that you’re stopping is the most important. God bless you and thank you!”
The Freaky Friday star was supposed to be on the program in person on Friday, but she had returned to Los Angeles amid the devastating Pacific Palisades fires.
Meanwhile, fellow TV legend Oprah Winfrey also appeared on Kotb’s last show, with a special pre-recorded message. Winfrey noted that while it must be “difficult” for Kotb to leave the network, the now Today alum knew it was “time to move on to the next thing.”
“And I will tell you that in the future, you’re going to look back and you’re going to say, ‘Was that the right decision? Did I do the right thing?’” Winfrey told the mother of two daughters, Haley, seven, and Hope, five. “And I will assure you that yes, you have made the right move, although it has been very hard to do.
Winfrey added: “I know that Haley and Hope are going to benefit so much from this decision, and whatever you decide to do in your next chapter, in the next adventure, it will be the best decision for you and for your family.”
In September 2024, Kotb emotionally announced that she’d be leaving Today in order to spend more time with her daughters, who she shares with ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman
“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,” she said on the show. “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.”
Kotb joined NBC in 1998 as a correspondent for Dateline. In 2007, she became co-host of the fourth hour of Today, which is now known as Today with Hoda and Jenna. Kotb and Savannah Guthrie have co-anchored Today since 2018, marking the show’s first all-female anchor team.
Hours after announcing her exit from Today, Realtor.com revealed that she’s leaving New York City to live in her new $2.8 million home in Brownsville, New York. Kotb opened up about living in the suburbs during a previous episode of Today last September.
“Everything changed like that. I have a whole new town and a whole new school and all the new things,” Kotb — who used to live in the Upper West Side — explained. “We went for our first day of school, I carried a coffee and I had sneakers [on], and I walked my kids to school like normal people. It was awesome.”
While Kotb is leaving Today, that doesn’t mean that she won’t be working with NBC anymore. She recently revealed that she’ll cover the next two Olympics with the network. She told Page Six on Thursday (January 9) that in addition to going to the 2026 Olympics in Milan and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, she’ll still appear on monthly segments of Today.
