Entertainment
Hoda Kotb makes major unexpected announcement
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Hoda Kotb is wiping the slate clean when it comes to her career.
After last month’s announcement that she would be stepping away from her long-running job as a co-host on Today, Kotb, 60, spoke with People about an exciting business venture she describes as “down the road.”
“I have something that I am super excited about that’s in its infancy,” the Dateline alum told the outlet.
After diving into wellness and learning more about it through her inner circle, the broadcast journalist made it her new project. “It’s a whole wellness situation, and I got lit up by that just from stuff I’ve been working on and doing on myself,” Kotb remarked. “I’ve learned to do a bunch of different things with breath works and what not through friends, through Jenna [Bush Hager], through Maria [Shriver], through all these different people, and I’ve been loving it.”
The mom of two said she is “still early on in the stages” of getting a “really good wellness app together and do wellness retreats and things like that.”
Not only does Kotb find wellness enjoyable, but she recognizes it can be a powerful tool for people. “I think it would be, number one, fun, and number two, helpful,” the New York Times bestselling author stated. “When I learned some of these things, I was like, ‘Wait, why do I feel like my baseline feels less stressed? Why do I feel this way?’ So I was talking about this stuff, and so the more you’re interested, the more you go down kind of that path.”
On Thursday, September 26, the beloved journalist announced on live TV that after 17 years, she would be leaving her position at Today. Kotb, who shares adopted daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, with ex-fiance Joel Schiffman, cited wanting to spend more time with her family as part of the reason for her departure. “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,” the TV personality admitted
Kotb appeared on the Monday, October 7, episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and detailed the moment she realized it was time to step away. “When I turned 60, something weird happened, man,” she said. “I turned 60, and we had this beautiful party at the Today show, and I looked out at the sea of all the people who came and beautiful signs and so many well-wishes and I knew in my heart, like, ‘This is it, man. This is what the mountaintop must feel like.’ Like, I’d never had that feeling before.”
Per People, Kotb’s last day on Today has not yet been determined, but she will stay until early 2025.