Hoda Kotb is happy with her choice to leave her beloved gig at the Today show.
While in attendance at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, La., where the retired news anchor lived throughout the 1990s, Kotb revealed how she knew bringing her successful career to an end was the “right decision.”
“I woke up on the very first day after I made my decision — that Monday at 4:15 — and I have to tell you, everything seemed right,” the 60-year-old explained during an interview with a news publication moments before the big game.
As for what made that morning feel like fate, Kotb noted: “My little girl ran down the stairs and she looked at me and she goes, ‘you are here!'”
“And I go, ‘yes! I’m here.’ So, right decision confirmed,” the mom-of-two — who shares two adopted daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, with her ex-fiancè, Joel Schiffman, 66 — sweetly shared.
Plus, Kotb feels assured knowing she left the popular daytime news and talk show in good hands.
“Savannah and Craig are crushing it,” the I Really Needed This Today: Words to Live By author declared of her former co-anchor Savannah Guthrie and her replacement Craig Melvin.
Kotb additionally praised her Today With Hoda and Jenna costar Jenna Bush Hager — who has since taken over the third hour the NBC program alongside a rotating list of special guests until she finds a permanent new co-host.
“Jenna and all of her friends — I don’t even know what friend I like better — but I am enjoying watching them. It’s been beautiful,” she gushed, as Today With Jenna and Friends has featured impressive A-list stars like Scarlett Johansson, Taraji P. Henson, Eva Longoria, Keke Palmer, Michelle Buteau, Kelsea Ballerini, Kimberly Schlapman, Ciara, Wynonna Judd and more.
When announcing her decision to leave Today in September 2024, Kotb emphasized how wanting to spend more time with her kids was a main reason behind her unexpected retirement.
“I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new,” she confessed while live on air. “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.”
Kotb continued: “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. 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.”