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Hoda Kotb has had an incredibly successful career at NBC, allowing her to interview many A-listers over the years.
The broadcast journalist originally started as a correspondent for Dateline in 1998. In 2007, she began hosting the fourth hour of Today, known as Today with Hoda & Jenna. Then, in 2018, Kotb became co-anchor of Today along with Savannah Gutherie.
The beloved host announced in September that she would be exiting Today in 2025. Kotb, who shares adopted daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, with ex-fiance Joel Schiffman, cited wanting more time with her family as one of the reasons behind her exit. “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,” she told viewers. “I feel like we only have a finite amount of time.”
In October, Kotb traded being an interviewer to being an interviewee on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where she revealed the decision to depart Today came to her on her 60th birthday. “When I turned 60, something weird happened, man,” she said. “I turned 60, and we had this beautiful party at the Today show, and I looked out at the sea of all the people who came and beautiful signs and so many well-wishes and I knew in my heart, like, ‘This is it, man. This is what the mountaintop must feel like.’ Like, I’d never had that feeling before.”
While Kotb will no longer be on America’s TV screens every morning, it’s fair to say she has left a legacy of incredible interviews to look back at.
Taylor Swift
In 2009, the TV personality did a segment about Taylor Swift for Dateline. The young country singer was only 19 at the time and was on tour for her first album, Fearless.
Swift told Kotb a little bit about her songwriting process in the interview, explaining, “I don’t think about what demographic this is gonna hit, or what format of radio is going to play this; I just write the song for the person I’m writing the song to.”
Jennifer Lopez
A few months after her divorce from Marc Anthony was finalized, Lopez came to the Today studio in November 2014 to talk with Kotb and then co-host Kathie Lee Gifford about her new book, True Love. Kotb praised the “Jenny from the Block” singer’s openness and relatability in the book. “You talk a lot about relationships [in the book], and I was so glad you were so open because so many of us have been through heartache, I found myself nodding, saying ‘that’s me on that page,’” Kotb shared.
Kotb also mentioned how the Monster in Law actress admitted in the book that she typically turns to another man shortly after breaking up with one. “I realize now that what I was seeking, that I never became whole on my own, I never let myself heal, I never fill that hole on my own, with my own love, with the love inside of me,” Lopez confessed.
Blake Shelton
The New York Times best-selling author paid a visit to see country superstar Blake Shelton in Nashville, Tennessee, for the CMT Awards in June of 2017.
Kotb got the scoop on Shelton and now wife Gwen Stefani’s relationship. “We’re just content and happy, and it’s just an incredible feeling,” the “God’s Country” singer, who had been dating Stefani for two years at the time, gushed.
Oprah Winfrey
In 2020, Kotb shed some tears as she finally met and interviewed her “idol” Oprah.
“You know when people say ‘you mean so much to me’, but they’ve never met you, and I know maybe it always does seem a little weird, but this is really one of those moments for me, so thank you,” Kotb gushed.
At the time, The Oprah Winfrey Show host was on her 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus tour, which focused on diet, fitness, and mental health, and she stopped by Today with Hoda & Jenna to chat with the two women.
While discussing the tour, Oprah shared, “We come together with this one goal to be well, to be better for ourselves and our families, and I think there is unity in this common goal to want to do better in your life.”
Prince Harry
Kotb flew to the Netherlands to interview Prince Harry at the 2022 Invictus Games — a sports competition he founded for injured, sick, or wounded veterans.
The morning show mainstay also got the Prince to open up about his experience being a father. When asked, “What do you love about fatherhood?” Harry gave a royally sweet answer, saying, “All of it. The chaos, the learning, the reminder of just every element of yourself, your soul, right? When you’re not a parent, you can get sucked into all sorts of different stuff, and you maybe sometimes forget who you are… I love every part of it.”
Jada Pinkett Smith
Kotb interviewed Will Smith‘s wife Jada Pinkett Smith in 2023 about her memoir Worthy, where she revealed that she and Will have not been a couple since 2016.
Kotb confessed she was shocked to learn about the actual status of the pair’s relationship telling the former Red Table Talk host, “The thing that surprised me the most, that I actually had to reread it because I said, is this true? Was that in 2016 you and Will decided that you were gonna live completely separate lives.”
The Scream 2 actress clarified that while she is not legally divorced, they do live “separate lives.” Jada reflected on the breakup, telling Kotb, “By the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying. I think we were both still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be.”
Céline Dion
In June 2024, Kotb sat down with musical icon Céline Dion, who opened up about her battle with a rare neurological disorder called stiff person syndrome.
When Kotb posed the difficult question, “What did this disease take away from you?” the Canadian singer responded, “It didn’t take anything away from me; I’m going to go back onstage even if I have to crawl even if I have to talk with my hands I will.”
Simone Biles
After her epic run at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she brought home three gold medals, Kotb interviewed the most decorated gymnast of all time, Simone Biles.
Kotb, who has interviewed Biles several times, mentioned how impressive the 27-year-old’s sportsmanship was at the games, citing the moment Biles and teammate Jordan Chiles bowed down to Brazilian Rebeca Andrade when she received her gold medal for the floor routine.
“We don’t care whether we win or lose; we’re always gonna keep a good face and support our competitors because they’ve worked just as hard as we have for that moment,” the Olympian stated.
The post Hoda Kotb’s Most Memorable Interviews Throughout Her Time At NBC appeared first on Newsweek.
