Hoda Kotb’s days of getting up early for the Today The show is coming to an end.

The presenter announced on September 26 that she is leaving the morning show. Her last day will be January 1, 2025.

Kotb, who first joined NBC News as Date line correspondent in 1998 and made Today history of the show when she was named co-host with Savannah Guthrie in 2018, will remain with the network in an undisclosed role.

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

Kotb said she made her decision after she turned 60 in August. Although “this is the hardest thing in the world,” she said, she felt ready to “turn the page” while “riding the wave.” She said she was looking forward to spending more time with her daughters, Haley Joy and Hope Catherine.

Half of Today‘s first all-female anchor team

In January 2018, Kotb joined Guthrie to make history as the first pair of women to host Todaywhich premiered in 1952. An all-female newsroom is rare on network morning television. ABC’s Good morning America was the first morning show to do so, with Robin Roberts and Diane Sawyer from 2006 to 2009.

The anchor replaced Matt Lauer, who was fired in November 2017 amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

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

Kotb has not only brought the latest news on the radio, but she has also shared her personal highs and lows. Today viewers. That included documenting her treatment for breast cancer, when she underwent a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery in 2007. She’s also an adoption advocate, sharing her journey to bring her two daughters home in 2017 and 2019. Kotb became a mother for the first time at age 52.

She’s shared deeply personal moments, including her youngest 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 is the outlook for Kotb?

Let’s start with sleeping in. For TodayThe co-anchor had been waking up at 3 a.m. every morning for years to go to work, before she moved from Manhattan to the suburbs last summer, which forced her to wake up even earlier.

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

When Kotb announced her departure on the radio, she said her daughters were at the heart of her decision.

“Of course, I had my children late in life, and I thought they deserved a bigger share of my time than I have,” she said. “I feel like we only have a limited amount of time.”

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

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

“It takes so much courage to leave a place where you feel so comfortable, so loved,” Guthrie said. “There’s nothing rushed about it.”

Kotb will remain with NBC News in some capacity. She told the New York Times she is also interested in a potential venture in the wellness sector — calling it “a wonderful, fertile, wonderful place to be” — but gave no further details.

Kotb currently also hosts her own podcast, Making Space with Hoda KotbShe has also written several books, including I really needed this today: words to live by with inspiring quotes.

Her Instagram account is still filled with inspirational quotes — interspersed with photos of her life as a single mother. The one she posted on Thursday, just before announcing her departure, said, “By the way, I’m wearing the smile you gave me.”