Hoda Kotb to leave 'Today,' says NBC is her 'longest professional love affair'

Sept. 26 (UPI) -- After five plus years as Today co-anchor, Hoda Kotb announced her departure Thursday, citing a need to spend more time with family.

"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. I feel like we only have a finite amount of time," she said.

Kotb, 60, has two daughters -- 7-year-old Haley and a 5-year-old Hope.

She said that her 60th birthday served as the inspiration to make the change.

"l remembered standing outside looking at these beautiful bunch of people with these gorgeous signs, and I thought, 'This is what the top of the wave feels like for me,'" she said. "And I thought it can't get better, and I decided that this is the right time for me to kind of move on."

Co-anchor Savannah Guthrie gushed over her colleague's bravery.

"You have guts," she said. "For someone to leave at the top of their game, to leave something that's wonderful that you love, where it's easy and comfortable and beautiful and fun, and say, 'But I dream bigger for myself into the great unknown.' You have so much guts. You inspire me. I love you."

Colleagues Jenna Bush Hager, Sheinelle Jones, Craig Melvin and Al Roker also expressed their love.

"I have never known anybody like you. I've known you forever, and I love you," Roker said.

The feeling is quite mutual, according to a letter she shared with staff.

"My time at NBC has been the longest professional love affair of my life," she wrote. "...Looking back, the math is nuts. Twenty-six years at NBC News -- 10 years at Dateline, seven on the seven o'clock hour, 16 on the 10 o'clock hour."

Kotb will remain in her current role through year's end, and then will shift into a new position with NBC, which has not yet been disclosed or detailed.

"I've been practicing so I wouldn't cry," she said. "But anyway, I did."