Hoda Kotb breaks down explaining ‘hard’ decision to leave ‘Today’ show: ‘It weighed on me a lot’

Hoda Kotb cried while continuing to explain her shocking departure from the “Today” show with Jenna Bush Hager on Thursday morning.

“Saying goodbye to something this amazing is hard,” Kotb said through tears on Thursday’s episode of “Today With Hoda and Jenna.”

Both Kotb and her fourth hour co-host, Jenna Bush Hager, broke down crying while talking about the emotional decision.

Hoda Kotb discussed her shocking departure from the “Today” show with Jenna Bush Hager on Thursday morning. @TODAYshow/X

“It weight a lot on me. I went back and forth and back and forth,” Kotb told Bush Hager.

Bush Hager was just as emotional and admitted that she initially told Kotb “No” when Kotb told her she would be leaving their show, as well as the earlier “Today” show broadcast.

“I said, ‘No, you can’t leave, because what we have here, with all of these people?” she said through tears.

Kotb agreed that their time together has been “one in a million,” but she’s ready to enter into the next decade more focused on her two daughters.

“I also realized that this wave this is the peak for me, and I of course thought about my girls, and when you have kids later in life, you think about days and hours and minutes, and you think about walks to school, and I thought about I want my kids to get more pieces of my pie,” Kotb explained.

Kotb, 60, tearfully announced that she would be leaving “Today” after more than five years as co-anchor, as well as “Today With Hoda and Jenna.”

Kotb tearfully announced that she would be leaving “Today” after more than five years as co-anchor. TODAY Show

“I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new,” she said Thursday morning.

“I remembered standing outside looking at these beautiful bunch of people with these gorgeous signs, and I thought, ‘This is what the top of the wave feels like for me.’ And I thought, ‘It can’t get better,’ and I decided that this is the right time for me to kind of move on.”

The journalist, who shares adopted daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, with ex Joel Schiffman, said her girls played a big factor in why she decided to step down from her role after they recently moved to the suburbs of New York City.

“I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new,” she told her colleagues. TODAY Show The journalist said her daughters played a big factor in why she decided to step down from her role. Hoda Kotb/Instagram

“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.

“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 will remain with “Today” until January 2025 but will continue working with NBC in an unspecified role.

“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. TODAY Show Kotb will remain with “Today” until January 2025 but will continue working with NBC in an unspecified role. Getty Images

The mom of two, who has been part of NBC News for nearly 30 years, also wrote a touching letter to her “Today” family, revealing her exit.

“As I write this, my heart is all over the map. I know I’m making the right decision, but it’s a painful one,” she wrote.

“And you all are the reason why. They say two things can be right at the same time, and I’m feeling that so deeply right now. I love you and it’s time for me to leave the show.”

Kotb has been part of the NBC family for nearly 30 years. NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images She shares adopted daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, with ex Joel Schiffman. hodakotb/Instagram

Kotb then thanked some of her closest friends from the networks, including Al Roker, Savannah Guthrie and Bush Hager.

“Savannah: my rock. Jenna: my ride-or-die. Al: my longest friend at 30 Rock,” she wrote.

Though Kotb said she would miss her team, she said her daughters and her mom “need and deserve a bigger slice of my time pie.”