Hoda Kotb detailed the moment she realized she was ready to leave TODAY show in her newly published book, Jump and Find Joy: Embracing Change in Every Season of Life,

Hoda Kotb disclosed the reason she left the TODAY show in her recently published book.

The former NBC reporter’s latest book, Jump and Find Joy: Embracing Change in Every Season of Life, was released on Tuesday, September 23. The book acts like a guide for “dealing with change and upheaval,” whether unexpected or expected.

Within the book, there are anecdotes from Hoda as she details those moments in her life, as well as advice and stories from other well-known figures. Hoda discussed her time at TODAY and also shared what prompted her decision to depart the morning show’s fourth hour. She started the TODAY show in September 2007 and left the show on January 10, 2025.

In the book, according to US Weekly, Hoda explained that it was an interaction with her daughter Hope that made her realize she was ready to move on from the TODAY show.

The 61-year-old broadcast journalist adopted daughter Haley, 8, and Hope, 6, respectively, in 2017 and 2019 with her ex-partner Joel Schiffman.

“One day, she and I went out for a walk, and we came upon the tree she loved to climb. Her tree, as she likes to call it. She started her trip up the tree, grabbing its branches and hoisting her little body higher and higher. As she neared the top, she stopped and called down to me,” Hoda wrote in her book.

“‘Mom, what am I going to do when I get to the top of this tree?’ I smiled and said, ‘I don’t know. What are you going to do?’ She thought for a moment, then looked me right in the eye and said, ‘I guess I’ll find another tree.’ And there it was. There was no denying what I knew deep down inside. I was ready to find myself another tree,” she continued.

On May 28, Hoda returned to the show for the first time since her exit. She was a guest on the show, providing an update on her life and promoting her new wellness brand, Joy 101.

During her May appearance on the show, she revealed that her daughter Hope has Type 1 diabetes. Hoda added that Hope’s health “definitely weighed in” on her decision to leave the show, but the main reason was to spend more time with her two daughters.

“As anyone with a child who has Type 1 [knows], especially a little kid, you’re constantly watching, you’re constantly monitoring, you’re constantly checking, which is what I did all the time when I was [at TODAY]. You’re distracted,” Hoda elaborated.

She further said that experience gave her a “priority check” on life and she thought it was better to be there for Hope in the morning and night, feeling “relief” she can see and not at TODAY “sweating” about what’s happening.

“Hope is fine for most of the day. There are just moments where you have to watch her,” Hoda continued. “I was totaling it up — five minutes at breakfast, five minutes at lunch, five minutes at dinner, sometimes overnight. Add that up, that’s a half-hour. So for 23 and a half hours, she’s every other kid. So I try to remember that.”