Originally appeared on E! Online
Hoda Kotb is saying goodbye to “TODAY,”
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And on the beloved anchor’s last day on the morning show — after almost 20 years on the series and 27 at NBC — there were a number of individuals who wanted to say goodbye to her, too, in addition to colleagues Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker, Craig Melvin and Jenna Bush Hager.
While the Rockefeller Center Plaza was full of its usual early morning guests, this time bearing signs reading messages such as “thank you, Hoda,” and “we’ll miss you,” the “TODAY” broadcast featured recordings from celebrities such as Jamie Lee Curtis, Kristin Chenoweth, Dwyane Wade and Oprah Winfrey thanking Kotb for everything and wishing her well.
And Curtis made sure Kotb didn’t leave empty-handed, having a beautiful orb commissioned for the co-anchor that read, “Every today with you is a better day.”
Other in-person experiences included a surprise appearance from Olympian Simone Biles and Maria Shriver. The former thanked Kotb for her years as Team USA’s “Olympic Mom,” while Shriver congratulated the newscaster on taking this leap of faith and embracing her next chapter.
READ TODAY’s Craig Melvin Details Hoda Kotb’s “Bittersweet” Final Days Before Exit
Plus, Kermit the Frog treated Kotb and her daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, to a performance of “The Rainbow Connection.”
Kotb’s last day on “TODAY” comes almost four months after she announced she’d be leaving the morning show. The newscaster noted at the time that the decision came to her shortly after she celebrated a milestone birthday in August.
“I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new,” she said during the Sept. 26 “TODAY” broadcast. “I 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.’ And I thought it can’t get better, and I decided that this is the right time for me to kind of move on.”
Kotb also noted how her family played a role in the decision.
“Obviously I had my kiddos late in life, and I was thinking that they deserve a bigger piece of my time pie than I have,” she continued. “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.”
And as she leaves her time in front of the camera behind, she also has plans for her next step: a wellness app and company which she revealed will “involve retreats and a podcast and all kinds of things that we can get together, do things that I love.”
But in her excitement for the future, Kotb is also aware of all she’s leaving behind — including the professional relationships that have become more like family.
As she wrote of her colleagues in a letter while announcing her departure, “I’m picturing your faces and your families and all the ways you’ve lifted me up and inspired me. That’s my heart singing. So many of my professional relationships have become some of my most cherished friendships.”
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