Lester Holt Has Been Married to Carol Hagen for Over 40 Years! Meet the NBC Anchor’s Longtime Wife

Lester Holt is one of the most popular faces on NBC, but behind the scenes, he’s a doting husband to wife Carol Hagen.

Who Is Lester Holt’s Wife Carol Hagen?

Lester and Carol’s love story is sweet! The NBC Nightly News anchor met his wife when they were both 21. Carol was a United Airlines flight attendant at the time, while Lester was working as a reporter. Lester and Carol got married in 1982.

Over the years, Carol has been Lester’s biggest supporter, cheering him on throughout his career.

“We laugh a lot, we really do. I can be silly, she can be sillier. We just laugh through things and we know that everything, tough times will be a story at some point, and boy have I put her through some tough times with this job,” the news anchor told Extra in June 2015.

“She understands that when the bell rings, I like to answer it, when the big story’s going on, I want to be there … I love her to death, she’s has been so wonderful, she knows this job is going to bring a lot of late-night phone calls, but she’s there for me and that means an awful lot,” he added.

Carol once joined Lester on-air for a segment about a forest fire in the Napa Valley.

“I thought, ‘Wow, I’ve never been invited to go on a breaking news story before,’” she once told Sactown Magazine. “‘A forest fire — that could be considered a hot date!’ So I said, ‘I’m game.’ I guess I knew what I was getting myself into with Lester and his career.”

Currently, Carol works as a real estate agent in New York City.

“Carol’s ability to listen and engage has been described as ‘reassuring,’ and ‘calming’ by her clients, while her commitment to professionalism and discretion makes her a highly sought-after representative,” according to her bio on Realtor.com. “Carol has a sharp eye for details and is determined to make sure her clients are supported throughout the process of buying and selling. Understanding the value and importance of staging, Carol effectively guides her clients on how to make sure their property is viewed in the best possible light and achieves maximum value in the shortest amount of time.”

Does Lester Holt Have Kids?

Lester and Carol are the proud parents of two kids. The pair share sons Stefan and Cameron. Stefan, the eldest of the two, remembered spending time with his father in his early days at NBC.

“We moved to New York when I was 13, and throughout high school I would wake up early on Saturday mornings to hang out with Dad at 30 Rock when he anchored Weekend Today,” Stefan told Fete Lifestyle Magazine in March 2024. “In fact, my dad gave me one of my first driving lessons in the parking lot at MSNBC. I only remember hitting one curb.”

The happy couple are also grandparents to Stefan and Cameron’s kids. Lester sweetly revealed that his grandkids adorably call him “Granddude” during an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show in April 2021.

“I just melt,” Lester gushed about being a grandpa. “You know, that’s the thing about kids. It takes you out of everything else going on in your life.”