Hoda Kotb Is Leaving the "Today" Show After 17 Years

Hoda Kotb is leaving the “Today” show early next year.  She’ll stay with NBC in some capacity, but she didn’t elaborate.

On the show yesterday, she said her 60th birthday celebration this summer made her realize it was time to move on.

Quote, “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.  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.”  (Here’s video.)

Hoda joined NBC News as a correspondent in 1998, and became the inaugural host of the fourth hour of “Today” in 2007.

(She also wrote a goodbye letter to the “Today” staff, which you can read here.)