After nearly 11 years on the Today show, Kathie Lee Gifford shocked fans by announcing on Tuesday, Dec. 11 that she’s leaving the hit morning program. But insiders close to the 65-year-old star aren’t surprised by her exit and exclusively told Closer Weekly that Kathie Lee is “just over” working for Today now that her NBC perks are gone and felt it was “finally time to move on” from the show.

“When Kathie Lee Gifford first signed with Today she had a lot of perks. Now a lot of the perks she had have gone and she’s just over working at Today,” the insider explained. “Now she finds herself sitting alone in the basement with everyone else having fun hanging out in the dressing rooms on the first floor. Hoda [Kotb] has literally moved out on her. And moved upstairs.”

“At one point they were so close they lived in the same building. Now everything has changed. Kathie lost [her husband, Frank Gifford] and needs a best friend more than ever. But Hoda got the baby, boyfriend, and top job and doesn’t have time for her anymore,” the source told Closer adding that Kathie Lee and Hoda, 54, “stopped hanging out before and after the show” and “stopped lunches and dinners and going to the theater.”

Another insider revealed that KLG realized it was “finally time to move on” to new projects and leave Today behind after more than a decade. “Kathie Lee wanted out, it was becoming clearer that it was finally time to move on. She really prayed about it. She loved most of the people she worked with, Hoda, and her crew especially, but she wasn’t happy with the upper brass, decisions that they were making, and the changes she knew were on the horizon,” the source said.

Hoda Kotb Kathie Lee Gifford
Getty Images

“She wasn’t comfortable at the network anymore. She said she wanted to leave on her terms, not by some conclusion an executive crunching numbers comes up with,” the insider told Closer. We’ll miss seeing you on Today so much, Kathie Lee!

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