Hoda Kotb made history as 'Today' show co-anchor. Everything we know about her exit — and what's ahead.

Hoda Kotb’s days of waking up early for the Today show are coming to an end.

The anchor announced on Sept. 26 that she’s leaving the morning show. Her last day will be Jan. 1, 2025.

Kotb, who first joined NBC News as a Dateline correspondent in 1998 and made Today show history when she was named Savannah Guthrie’s co-anchor in 2018, will remain with the network in an unspecified role.

Kotb made the announcement on-air while flanked by the Today show team. She called her time on the network “the longest professional love affair of my life.” Her tenure has also included co-hosting the popular fourth hour of Today, first as Today With Kathie Lee & Hoda and currently as Today With Hoda & Jenna.

Kotb said her decision came after turning 60 in August. While “this is the hardest thing in the world,” she said, she felt ready to “turn the page” while at the “top of the wave.” She said she looked forward to spending more time with her daughters, Haley Joy and Hope Catherine.

Half of Today’s 1st all-female anchor team

In January 2018, Kotb joined Guthrie in making show history as the first pair of women to anchor Today, which premiered in 1952. An all-female news desk is rare on network morning TV. ABC’s Good Morning America was the first morning show to do it, with Robin Roberts and Diane Sawyer from 2006 to 2009.

The newswoman had been filling in for Matt Lauer, who was fired in November 2017 amid sexual misconduct allegations.

Kotb, who was born to parents of Egyptian descent, is also the second woman of color to sit in the Today anchor chair. (Ann Curry was the first — though it was a short run.)

Not only has Kotb broken news on the air, but she’s also shared her personal highs and lows with Today viewers. That included documenting her breast cancer treatment, as she underwent a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery in 2007. She’s also an adoption advocate and shared her journey of bringing home her two daughters in 2017 and 2019. Kotb became a first-time mom at age 52.

She’s shared deeply personal moments, including younger daughter Hope Catherine’s health scare in 2023 and ending her engagement to Joel Schiffman the year before. (Kotb and Schiffman continue to co-parent.)

What’s ahead for Kotb?

Let’s start with sleeping in. For Today, the co-anchor had been waking up each morning at 3 a.m. to get to work for years. That was before she moved out of Manhattan to the suburbs over the summer, which made for an even earlier wake-up call.

Now, she’ll be able to get her daughters ready for school. In September, she had to take a day off of work to be there for their first day at their new school. (She later said she loved the school walk, wearing sneakers, carrying coffee and being “like normal people. It was awesome!”)

While announcing her departure on-air, Kotb talked about her daughters being at the heart of her decision.

"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.”

Today With Hoda & Jenna’sJenna Bush Hager told the New York Times it was “brave” of her co-host to “make the choice to be there for your family and to give up something that we all love so much. I think she realized she wants to wake up to those faces.” (The article noted that Hager cried during the interview while talking about Kotb’s exit.)

Guthrie told the same outlet that she’s “super proud” and yet “super heartbroken” about Kotb’s decision.

“It takes such guts to leave a place where you’re so comfortable, so beloved,” Guthrie said. “There’s nothing rash about this.”

Kotb will continue at NBC News in some fashion. She told the New York Times that she’s also interested in a potential project in the wellness space — calling it “a beautiful, fertile, wonderful place to be” — but didn’t offer further details.

Currently, Kotb also hosts her podcast, Making Space With Hoda Kotb. She’s also written several books, including I Really Needed This Today: Words to Live By with inspiring quotes.

Her Instagram account continues to be filled with inspirational quotes — in between photos of her single-mom life. The one she posted Thursday, just prior to her exit announcement said, “By the way, I’m wearing the smile you gave me.”