Hoda Kotb decided to leave 'Today' when her daughter was facing a health crisis.
The 60-year-old journalist - who is the adoptive mother of Haley, eight, and six-year-old Hope - recently stepped down from her long-running position as host of the NBC news programme 'Today' alongside Jenna Bush Hager and after revealing that her daughter had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, recalledthat that the "worry" she felt when the little one took ill "definitely factored in" to her decision to quit.
She told US TV show 'Extra': "We thought it was the flu and it wasn't getting better. I went to the pediatrician a handful of times, and they kept saying that it seemed like the flu and don't worry, don't worry, and one day I looked at her and I said, ‘I'm worried.’ So I took her to the ER and she was in the ICU for several days, so it was difficult.
"It definitely factored in [to my decision to leave]. I mean, look, all I did was look at her numbers. I had my phone on the set when we were doing the news, and I was looking, 'cause you can see what her levels are doing, and if they drop too low, she needs help. So I was constantly looking at it, calling the school, calling my babysitter, calling, and I'm like, ‘Why am I calling all the time? Just, you be there.
Meanwhile, the 'Dateline' presenter noted that she had become so "tired" in the run-up to her exit from the show that her former co-host had "forced" her to undertake a breathing class - which she was reluctant to do - and now she has become open-minded to all forms of wellness methods.
She said: "I think I was tired, man. I think I felt depleted. I think I couldn't figure out why I felt like I was carrying a heavy load. I was doing all the things, but I didn't feel right. I tried a breath work class — Jenna forced me. I was, like, stiff-arming her. I was like, ‘I don't want your breath work, crazy. I'm not woo-woo like you are.' And then I tried it, and she was like, ‘Did you cry?’ I go, ‘I did.’ She goes, ‘See?’ So, I felt a clarity and an energy that I was lacking, and it felt so good, so, and then it just snowballed. I’m just insatiable. I try this, I try that. I'm gonna try everything!"
