Hoda Kotb Addresses the Reason That Pushed Her to Quit ‘Today’ Show

Hoda Kotb is quitting the Today show, and she’s now addressed the reason that pushed her to make the decision. In a new interview with PEOPLE, Kotb confirmed that it was wanting to be with her children more that she chose to leave the morning news show.

“I knew that I wanted this decade to be different,” Kotb told the outlet, speaking about she wanted to make some changes upon turning 60. “I looked at my time like a pie. I was like, ‘This is how much time I get, and now what am I going to do with it and how am I going to carve it up?’ And I wanted it to be filled with more of them.”

“There’s the guilt you carry because you can’t be 100% at work and 100% at home,” she continued. “Something has to give if you want excellence. If you’re going to be excellent at work, something has to give at home. And if you want to be excellent at home, I mean excellent, and do all the things, something has to give at work. It can’t be equal.”

Earlier this month, Kotb announced her departure from the Today show, revealing that she would exit in 2025 so that she can spend more time with her two daughters.

“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… I realized it was time for me to turn the page at 60 and try something new,” Kotb said in her tearful statement.

“I decided this is the right time for me to move on,” she continued, “I obviously 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. And so, with all that being said, this is the hardest thing in the world.”