“Today” anchor Hoda Kotb, who just turned 60 last Friday, Aug.9, revealed that not only is she a year older and wiser, but that she’s also moved her and her children out of their New York City apartment into a home smack in the middle of the suburbs. Kotb has two daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 4. Lots of big name celebrities and media figures have been packing up their belongings and heading for the suburbs lately. Gee, I wonder why they might be ready to leave the big cities behind?
Could it be all of the homeless people pooping on the sidewalks? The massive increases in crime and violence? Outrageous cost of living and high taxation? Insanity in schools with boys claiming to be girls using the ladies room? Plenty of reasons to say “adios” to city living.
“We haven’t officially moved in yet,” Kotb said in an interview with PEOPLE on Monday, Aug. 12, noting that spending two weeks overseas covering the 2024 Summer Olympics pushed things back a bit. “I was away in Paris, and then just getting back and dealing with my birthday and other things, it’s been on the back-burner. But we’re almost there!”
She went on to joke that furniture has already been slowly moved in now that the painting has been completed. “They’re like, ‘You have two couches, where do you want them?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know, put them wherever, I’ll get to it later!'” PEOPLE was catching up with Kotb from the Today studios where the NBC morning news show was throwing a huge bash in honor of her birthday.
Leaving the city for the suburbs wasn’t an easy choice for Kotb, she admits, especially because she’s been in the same apartment since she welcomed her girls via adoption in 2017 and 2019 (respectively). But the move is all about opening herself and her daughters up to new things.
“I want my kids to feel grass on their feet, and play in the yard, and ride bikes down the street, and run up and down the stairs,” she goes on to tell PEOPLE. “I just see that life for them in this perfect house in this beautiful little town where I know they’ll be able to blossom into beautiful, independent, strong women.”
The fan-favorite anchor said she feels the timing for such a move is perfect, pointing out she’s come to a phase in life where she’s ready to spread her roots out a bit more.
“It’s like my roots need a bigger pot,” she continues. “You know when you take a plant out of a pot, and it’s roots are all twisted and tight? And then you put it in a bigger pot with fresh new soil and it just grows bigger and stronger? That’s the journey I’m on right now. And it’s going to hurt a little, to leave that pot that was so comfortable for so long. But in the end, it’s going to be exactly what we need.”
Kotb talked about how turning the big 6-0 has led to a time of deep reflection for her and where she is at in life. She explained that many of the different seasons of life have taught her important lessons, the most meaningful have come from her time as a mother.
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“Being a mom has shown me that all things are possible,” she says during the conversation with PEOPLE. “I say to [my daughters]… when I look at their eyes, what do I see? And I see endless possibilities with them.”
“They’ve taught me that I’m good enough as I am, with all my flaws and everything that I bring. They’ve taught me that there’s humor in some sometimes some of the most challenging places. And they’ve taught me that I was always good enough to be a mom,” Kotb says in conclusion. “And now I get to for the rest of my life.”