Hoda Kotb Announces Exit From Co-Hosting Role: 'This Is The Hardest Thing In The World'

After over two decades as a broadcast queen,Hoda Kotb is ready to close her chapter with the "TODAY" show.

The TV personality has enjoyed a successful career at NBC network and will remain a part of the broadcast family in a different role. She will leave her co-anchor position early next year, a change inspired by her 60th birthday.

Hoda Kotb has been the main co-anchor of NBC News morning show "TODAY" and co-hosted its entertainment-focused fourth-hour segment. Her exit brought her fellow anchors to tears as they reflected on their years-long bond.

Kotb tearfully announced her exit on the "TODAY" show and in a letter to staff, an emotional moment shared on the program's YouTube page on Thursday, September 26.

She noted the decision stemmed from her 60th birthday, saying: "So I was doing the math, and I realized that I have spent 26 years at NBC…and I just turned 60." Kotb continued:

"I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60 and to try something new. 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," the longtime anchor added, noting her desire to spend more time as a mother instead of focusing on her career.

Kotb, the proud mother of two girls, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, stressed that she wanted to spend more time with her children. She reflected on her decision, saying:

"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."

"And so, with all that being said, this is the hardest thing in the world," Kotb confessed. She stressed that her exit wasn't the end, as she would remain in the NBC family in an unspecified role.

"It's kind of a big deal for me. I've been practicing so I wouldn't cry, but anyway, I did," Kotb tearfully confessed, her words sparking similar emotions from her longtime anchors who honored their time together.

Kotb's 26-year career at NBC began with her time at "Dateline" before co-hosting the fourth hour of "TODAY" with Kathie Lee Gifford and Jenna Bush Hager. Finally, she became the co-anchor of "TODAY" with Savannah Guthrie.

Guthrie tearfully reflected on their over 5-year relationship, telling Kotb: "We love you so much. And when you look around and see these tears, they're love. You are so loved. We don't want to imagine this place without you."

"It's not over. I'm going to be showing up at your house like the stalker you are to Zac Brown. I will be there on your doorstep, and we are your friends forever," Bush Hager said.

"I have never known anybody like you. I've known you forever, and I love you," weatherman Al Roker added, while Craig Melvin declared: "You've been the heart of this show for a long time, and there's no replacing that."

Kotb announced her exit to the "TODAY" staff with an emotional letter, thanking them for their support during their years together. "As I write this, my heart is all over the map. I know I'm making the right decision, but it's a painful one," she confessed.

"My time at NBC has been the longest professional love affair of my life. But only because you've been beside me on this twenty-six-year adventure," the TV personality admitted. She doubled down on remaining at NBC in her concluding paragraph, writing:

"I plan to remain a part of the NBC family, the longest work relationship I've been lucky enough to hold close to my heart. I'll be around. How could I not? Family is family, and you all will always be a part of mine."

Two years before announcing her exit, The Blast reported that Kotb was convinced her destined partner would arrive soon. Her confessions about love came at the heels of her separation from Joel Schiffman, her longtime partner.

Kotb told Bush Hager that she knew she wouldn't spend her life alone, and it had nothing to do with her daughters. "With certainty — and it's the strangest feeling to know that," she noted, adding:

"Sometimes I feel him, but I don't see what he looks like, but I feel like it will happen."

The question on everyone's mind is, what is next for Hoda Kotb?