New York
CNN
—

Hoda Kotb, the co-host of NBC’s morning show, “Today,” will leave her post early next year, she announced Thursday.

Kotb, one of NBC’s most recognizable faces, has co-hosted the show with Savannah Guthrie since 2017, succeeding Matt Lauer, who was fired after allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior at work.

“It was time for me to turn the page at 60,” Kotb said Thursday on “Today,” holding back tears. “I decided this was the right time to move on. I obviously had my children late in life and I thought they deserved a bigger share of my time than I did.”

Kotb is seen as a crucial part of the connective tissue of the “Today” show within NBC, as she hosts the first two hours of the talk show as well as the 10 a.m. talk show “Hoda & Jenna.”

She said it was the “hardest decision of her life.” Kotb has two young daughters she adopted and wants to spend more time with them.

Kotb joined NBC in 1998 as a correspondent for the newsmagazine “Dateline.” She was later named co-host of the 10-hour “Today” with Kathie Lee Gifford in 2008 until 2019, when Jenna Bush Hager took over the role.

Guthrie said that “we don’t want to imagine this place without you, so it’s complicated because we love you so much and we don’t ever want you to leave.” However, she told her that she has “courage for someone to leave at the peak of their powers.”

Kotb’s exit represents one of the biggest changes to the morning television landscape in at least a decade. Shows like “Today” and ABC’s “Good Morning America” ​​are highly profitable parts of their parent companies and are cultural icons, even as the broadcasting business as a whole shrinks.

Network executives strive for consistency and when transitions must occur, they manage the changes very carefully because so many ratings are at stake.

In a letter to “Today” employees, Kotb said, “I am thrilled and grateful to remain a part of the NBC family, the longest working relationship I have ever had the privilege of enjoying. I will be there. How could I not? Family is family and you will always be a part of mine.”

NBC has not immediately named a successor to Kotb and that will likely take months.

This story has been updated with additional context and color.