Hoda Kotb felt all the emotions during her farewell on the Today show on January 10, but the beloved TV host has “no FOMO” about her years-long run on the daytime talk show.
“I have no FOMO, which is so funny because I knew 100 [percent]. I don’t have an ounce of it,” Hoda, 60, admitted to Us Weekly on Thursday, February 28.
The New York Times bestselling author clarified, “[It] doesn’t mean I didn’t love it. At the end when my heart broke, I was like, ‘That’s love.’ But it also is, I feel like my gaze is set forward.”
So, why is Hoda so happy to be free from her grueling Today show? Well, she gets to be a full-time mom to her daughters, Haley Joy, 8, and Hope Catherine, 5, which helped her refrain from “second thought[s]” of leaving the show.
“I think if anyone’s ever gone through any kind of an ending and a beginning, sometimes it’s really difficult, but also 100 percent right. And I knew it in my heart. I know it just like I’m saying it today,” Hoda continued to the publication. “I knew it then. … It’s sort of like life speaks to you and whispers, and pretty soon, they turn into screams. But I felt the whisper, I knew it, and I didn’t ignore it. I didn’t push it down. I didn’t say, ‘Not right now.’ I knew it was right.”
At the 2025 Super Bowl, Hoda reflected on her first day after leaving the show and shared the “beautiful” morning she experienced with her daughters. While chatting with Entertainment Tonight, Hoda said she woke up at 4:15 a.m. on a Monday morning and “everything seemed right.”
While getting things ready for her daughters’ school day, Hoda shared that one of her kids “ran down the stairs, and she looked at [her], and she [said], ‘You are here.’ I [said], ‘Yes, I am.’”
“So, right decision, confirmed. Savannah [Guthrie] and Craig [Melvin] are crushing it. Jenna [Bush Hager] and all of her friends, I don’t even know what friend I like better,” Hoda gushed. “But I’m enjoying watching them. It’s been beautiful.”
Now, Hoda may not miss being a permanent cohost on Today inside studio 1A at 10 Rockefeller Center, but she’s all for making a cameo with her former besties.
On Friday, February 28, Hoda appeared on the Today show while former cohosts Melvin, 45, Al Roker and Dylan Dreyer, reported live from New Orleans while celebrating Mardi Gras.
“Before we go any further, I think we’ve got a very special person who knows this city well,” Al, 70, said of Hoda, who was a reporter in the city during the ‘90s.
“Hey guys, wait a minute, are you in my city? Without me?” Hoda joked. “OK, Al, Craig, Dylan, you guys, I know what you’re going to do? Eat all the food, yes you will, listen to all the music, yes you will. Enjoy what I believe is the best city on earth. Y’all have so much without me, wah wah, happy Mardi Gras!”
