Hoda Kotb Admits It’s ‘Scary’ to Leave ‘Today’ After 17 Years, Reflects on Starting a ‘New Life’

Hoda Kotb admitted that leaving her longtime job on Today will be very hard but she’s ready for her new chapter to begin.

“I think it’s scary to restart,” the NBC personality said on Today on Thursday, January 2. “Somebody gave me some good advice once. They said when you are taking a leap or a jump, you have to imagine yourself on the other side.”

Hoda, 60, will be leaving Today on January 10 after more than a decade as a host.

“You have to know what you’d feel like in that new relationship, what his hand would feel like in yours,” the mom of two, who shares kids Haley and Hope with ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman, said. “Or how you would feel in a new job. It’s almost like imagining what your new life would feel like when you repot or start over again.”

Hoda’s final episode of the talk show will feature a live audience. Tickets were sold out within minutes for her farewell celebration on the show.

“I would love to tell people to get tickets, but you put them up online and it sold out in six minutes, so everybody’s coming,” Seth Meyers said when Hoda appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers in December 2024.

The TV personality previously told her Today cohosts that announcing she was leaving the show on September 26 was the “hardest thing in the world.” However, her costars have been very supportive of her decision to spread her wings and leave the show.

Ahead of her departure from the talk show, Hoda moved into a new home in the suburbs outside of New York City. She’s looking forward to spending more time in her community with her new neighbors after she wraps up her last day on the program.

“I’ve noticed about myself that I’m more about doing things in community with people … I just decided that I like community better. I go to workout classes — even if I’m not having big conversations, I’m around people who are feeling the same vibe,” Hoda revealed.

In September 2024, Hoda took Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, to their first day of school in the new neighborhood.

“Everything changed like that,” she said of the move. “I have a whole new town and a whole new school and all the new things. 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.”

For Hoda, experiencing the special moment with her kiddos is something she will remember forever.

“I just thought, ‘You know what? Sometimes chapters change and you miss things.’ And I was like, ‘I’m gonna do it,’” Hoda explained. “It was, like, a train of 10, 12 kids walking to school in a neighborhood.”

Though fans will no longer see Hoda sitting at the news desk on Today each morning, she will still be part of NBC in some capacity.