Hoda Kotb Teases Her Next Career Move Ahead of Today Show Exit

While Hoda Kotb is sad to be saying goodbye to the Today show, she’s also excited about what’s next.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever had a yearning, a calling, a desire, and you can’t quit it, even if you try, because working at NBC is safer. … But sometimes, you know there’s something else that you want to try in your life,” Kotb, 60, shared on the Friday, October 25, episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna. “And I have been so turned on by the wellness space because I realized what was happening to me. I tried different things and I noticed my body was calmer. I was getting sick less. I was feeling better. I was a better parent, a better friend, a better sister, a better daughter. And I thought, all these tiny things I was doing day after day were helping to change me inside.”

When it comes to what she plans to do after leaving Today early next year, she announced: “What I want to do is I want to live in wellness. I want to work in that space. I want to start things. I’ve got things that are percolating inside that I’m gonna, hopefully, have fully formed soon.”

Kotb shocked fans of the NBC morning show last month by revealing she is leaving Today early after 26 years at NBC. At the time, she cited turning 60 and wanting to spend more time with her kids are the main reasons behind her decision. (Kotb shares her daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, with her ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman.)

Shortly after, an NBC insider exclusively told Us Weekly that Kotb was “very focused” on wellness ahead of her first-ever Making Space Wellness, which begins on Friday at the Miraval Austin Resort and Spa in Austin, Texas.

On Friday’s Hoda & Jenna, Jenna Bush Hager recalled her kids’ strong reaction to news of Kotb’s upcoming exit. “When I told my kids Hoda was leaving, I might as well have said, “Daddy’s leaving,’ because they were like, ‘Wait, what? Why?’” she quipped. “They couldn’t understand it and I understood it, even though my heart was broken.” (Bush Hager, 42, shares three kids with her husband, Henry Hager.)

She went on to gush about her cohost, stating, “I knew that it was in her, this dream. And I also knew that this is the type of woman that if she didn’t follow exactly who she is, exactly what her dreams are, then it wouldn’t be right. So, I am so proud of her.”

Kotb further opened up about her decision to leave Today in a video package later in the episode, noting that her choice was motivated by “the idea that somewhere, there was supposed to be a new adventure for me.”

She explained: “There’s a part of me that has not yet caught up to where I’m going. … 75 percent of me has emotionally moved here, but when those twinges come up, like, ‘Should you do it? Is it a mistake? Uh oh,’ I remind myself that there’s still part of me that’s living right here, and that’s normal. Like, let it be. So, yeah, it’s scary. Yeah, it’s terrifying. It’s all those things, but it’s also exactly right.”

Regardless of how other life changes have played out, Kotb said she has never regretted following through with her choices. “Whenever I made a leap, a move, a jump, was, like, ‘I’m falling in love.’ That’s what I said to myself. ‘When I moved to this town, I’m falling in love. I’m gonna fall in love with a place, a restaurant, a friend, I’m gonna meet a boyfriend.’” she said. (Kotb moved outside of New York City to the suburbs with her daughters earlier this year.)

Calling her time on Today “unforgettable,” Kotb continued: “When you love something like I love NBC, like I love my work, it is hard to say goodbye to it because it doesn’t make sense. But there was something to me about recognizing a peak and saying in that peak, like, ‘I do not feel that there is an opportunity that would make this get any better than it is today.’ And I think once that feeling hits you, you’re like, ‘This is it.’ I don’t want to spend my days trying to recreate the top of the mountain. It was glorious.”

It is unknown who will replace Kotb as Bush Hager’s fourth hour cohost and as Savannah Guthrie’s coanchor. However, the NBC insider exclusively told Us last month that NBC’s Laura Jarrett is a top contender.

“She’s the anchor of Weekend Today; she is a lawyer like Savannah. She’s a darling at the Today show who has risen up very quickly,” the insider explained, adding that cohosts such as Craig Melvin, Carson Daly and Sheinelle Jones could also be considered for the job.