Hoda Kotb Shares Sweet Update Enjoying Her First Days of Retirement With Daughters

Hoda Kotb is soaking up time with her two daughters amid her retirement from Today. The longtime anchor, who left the gig after 17 years, will remain with the NBC family as a correspondent and host of her own podcast. Craig Melvin has taken her position. In the meantime, Kotb is enjoying family time. Kotb, 60, shared photos of herself dropping her daughters Haley, 8, and Hope, 5, off at school via Instagram on Tuesday, January 14.

“School drop!!! Let’s goooo!” she captioned the post. Kotb’s clip also featured her shouting “I love you” and toasting with her coffee thermos as her daughters headed into their school building. 

As for why she opted to leave her job at Today, Kotb said wanting to spend more time with her kids, whom she shares with ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman. “I had my kiddos late in life, and I was thinking they deserve a bigger piece of my time, the pie that I have,” she explained on the show while announcing her exit in September 2024. “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.”

The beloved host’s last week was filled with well wishes and surprise visits from Simone Biles, Maria Shriver, Gayle King, Jimmy Fallon, former cohost Kathie Lee Gifford and Walker Hayes. “I’ve become who I am on this hour of this show, and you were there with me every step of the way,” Kotb read from a letter she wrote to fans in a prerecorded video package on her final day. “So, as I sit here today in my final moments on this final day in this chapter of my career, I want to say thank you from the bottom of my very full heart for the ride of a lifetime. I love you.”