Katie Couric Reacts to Hoda Kotb’s ‘Today’ Departure: ‘Excited for Her to Expand Her Horizons’

Katie Couric voiced her support for former Today colleague Hoda Kotb as she prepares to exit the talk show.

The journalist shared her hopes for Hoda’s next chapter during an interview with Entertainment Tonight at the 2024 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson’s gala in New York City on Saturday, November 16.

“I love Hoda, I think the world loves Hoda,” Katie, 67, told the outlet on the red carpet. “She’s been there a long time. Like anyone, you want to take on new challenges. I did it for 15 years and I loved every minute, but I was ready to try something else. So I think Hoda was too.”

It was announced that Craig Melvin would be sliding into Hoda’s seat after she marks her final episode of the show on January 10. Katie thinks Craig, 45, was an excellent choice to step in as Savannah Guthrie’s new coanchor.

“I think Craig is awesome,” she said. “The audience knows him and likes him, so I think it’s really going to be a seamless transition. “Sometimes those transitions can be bumpy and hard, so I think he’s just going to get in there and operate on all four cylinders. And the show is going to keep getting better and better, even though it’s great already.”

Hoda, 60, is a mom of two daughters, Haley and Hope, whom she shares with ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman. She explained that her reason for leaving Today was to give her daughters the attention they deserve.

“I decided that this is the right time for me to kind of move on,” the NBC veteran said during an episode of Today on September 26. “And then I thought about it — 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.”

Katie is “really excited” to see Hoda blossom in other avenues outside of Today.

“She’s got these two little kids. She has been working these hours a long time,” Katie said. “She wants to make breakfast for her girls in the morning and take them to school. I know she’s coparenting, but she’s a single parent a lot of the time.”

Hoda has already revealed that she plans to enter the wellness space, thanks to inspiring people in her life like Maria Shriver. Katie has high hopes for the mom of two as she prepares to enter her new era.

“The Media’s changing … There are a lot of different ways to have an audience and to have a relationship with viewers, so I’m excited for her to expand her horizons and diversify her portfolio,” Katie said.

And Katie certainly knows best, as she was part of Today for 15 years before leaving the show in 2006. But her influence in the media industry didn’t stop there. She’s the founder of Katie Couric Media, has authored multiple bestselling books and has shown no signs of slowing her career any time soon.