Mariska Hargitay Offers to ‘Step In’ for Hoda Kotb After Today Exit

Hoda Kotb’s decision to leave the Today show is one that her pal Mariska Hargitay admires.

“I love you so much, and I’m so proud and inspired by you and was excited to see you today,” Hargitay told Kotb, both 60, at the end of her interview on the Tuesday, October 1, episode of Today. “And I’m so grateful to be able to say that because we’re 26 years together, baby. And we’re 60 years together, baby.”

Kotb began her career at NBC as a Dateline correspondent 26 years ago, shortly before Hargitay made her debut as Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 1999.

Referring to Kotb’s forthcoming exit from Today, the actress continued: “And so, when you made your decision, I said, ‘Yes!’ I said, ‘Yes!’ And my gosh, I grieve for all of us in this country who’s gonna miss you, and most of all, [Savannah Guthrie].” (Kotb took over for Matt Lauer as Guthrie’s coanchor in 2018.)

While an official replacement for Kotb has yet to be announced, Hargitay threw her own name in the hat. “[I’m] happy to step in any time,” she quipped. Guthrie, 52, was open to the idea, responding, “We might have to call you up.”

Kotb surprised Today fans on Thursday, September 26, by announcing her departure from the series. “I just turned 60, and it was such a monumental moment for me when I turned 60 years old because I started thinking about that decade, like, what does that decade mean? What does it hold? What’s it gonna have for me?” she stated. “And I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60 and to try something new.”

Kotb came to the decision shortly after celebrating her 60th birthday on Today. “I remembered standing outside, looking at this beautiful bunch of people with all 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 this is the right time for me to, kind of, move on,” she explained.

Her two daughters — Haley, 7, and Hope, 5 — were also a big factor. “They deserve a bigger piece of my time, the pie that I have,” Kotb stated. “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.” (Kotb coparents her kids with her ex-fiancé, Joel Schiffman.)

Kotb will remain on Today through January 2025 and plans to stay in the NBC family for her future projects.

Following news of the Today show shakeup, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that NBC is eyeing Laura Jarrett as Kotb’s replacement. “She’s the anchor of Weekend Today; she is a lawyer like Savannah,” the insider noted. “She’s a darling at the Today show who has risen up very quickly.”

The source went on to add: “The other option is they could move around anchors. They could put Craig [Melvin] with Savannah, or they could put Sheinelle [Jones] with Savannah.”

While Kotb said her family was the primary reason for her departure, a Puck report later claimed that Kotb may have chosen to leave Today after being asked to cut her salary of more than $20 million. However, another source clarified to Us that “salary played no role in Hoda’s decision.”