Hoda Kotb has a playful suggestion for Lester Holt as he prepares to leave NBC Nightly News: follow her lead and embrace suburban life.
On Tuesday, February 25, Kotb shared photos on Instagram of herself and her family with Holt, 65, marking his tenure at the show. “Lester! Hats off to a great run on @nbcnightlynews!” Kotb, 60, wrote. “Now all that’s left is a move to the burbs … and a @toyota sienna minivan! Xx love you @lesterholtnbc. Xo.”
Kotb herself has been embracing suburban life since she left her longtime Today hosting role in January. She announced in March 2024 that she and her two daughters, Haley, 8, and Hope, 5, were moving out of New York City. By the time school started that September, the family had settled into their new home. Kotb explained that wanting to spend more time with her daughters, whom she shares with ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman, was one of the main reasons for leaving Today.
On a September 2024 episode of Today with Hoda & Jenna, Kotb shared her excitement about the change. “I have a whole new town and a whole new school and all the new things,” she said. “We went for our first day of school, I carried a coffee, and I had sneakers on, and I walked my kids to school like normal people. It was awesome.”
A month later, Kotb expressed her joy about Halloween in the suburbs, noting how different it was from their previous urban trick-or-treating. “We used to go trick-or-treating at CVS and the dry cleaners and [a nail salon],” Kotb said on Hoda & Jenna. “My kids thought trick-or-treating was walking into a store and having the lady behind the counter put some [candy] in your bag. … Everywhere I look in our town, there’s those big spiderwebs, all the things.”
Kotb even ended her final Today episode on January 10 by driving away from 30 Rockefeller Plaza with her kids in a minivan, with a “Just Repotted” sign on the back.
While Craig Melvin has since taken over Kotb’s co-anchor role on Today, the network has not yet announced Holt’s replacement on NBC Nightly News. Holt, who has hosted the program for 15 years, informed staff on Monday, February 24, of his decision to step down.
“A smile comes to my face when I think that with Nightly News and Dateline, I have now anchored two of the most successful and iconic television news programs in broadcast history,” Holt wrote in a note to staff, according to NBC News. “As a 20-year-old radio reporter on the police beat chasing breaking news around San Francisco, I could never have imagined my career path would unfold in the way it has. What an amazing ride.”
After his Nightly News departure in the summer, Holt will continue to anchor Dateline full-time. Like Holt, Kotb will stay within the NBC family as a special correspondent, occasionally appearing on Today and covering the upcoming Olympic Games.
“I want to be a supporting character on a team that is already in place so that I’ll come in and just have a role there,” Kotb told Page Six last month. “And then I’m going to do my ‘Making Space’ podcast, which I enjoy and love so much.” She also shared that she is working on creating a wellness app and company.
