--- title: Kathie Lee Gifford Announces Her Exit From 'Today' Show description: Kathie Lee Gifford will be leaving the Today show in April 2019 after 11 years. canonical: https://time.com/5476814/kathie-lee-gifford-leaving-today-show/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-12-11T16:57:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:15:02.576Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Kathie Lee Gifford Tearfully Announces Her Exit From Today, and It Made Hoda Cry Too og:description: Kathie Lee Gifford will be leaving the Today show next April, after 11 years on the show og:url: https://time.com/5476814/kathie-lee-gifford-leaving-today-show/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte32d846fbf66d858/69894149457a526d79d60212/kathie-lee-hoda-today-show.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Today - Season 66 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kathie Lee Gifford Tearfully Announces Her Exit From Today, and It Made Hoda Cry Too twitter:description: Kathie Lee Gifford will be leaving the Today show next April, after 11 years on the show twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte32d846fbf66d858/69894149457a526d79d60212/kathie-lee-hoda-today-show.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kathie Lee Gifford Tearfully Announces Her Exit From _Today_, and It Made Hoda Cry Too > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Dec 11, 2018 4:57 PM UTC  Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford on Tuesday, October 17, 2017 Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford on Tuesday, October 17, 2017NBC—NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Dec 11, 2018 4:57 PM UTC Kathie Lee Gifford tearfully announced her upcoming departure from the _Today_ show in an emotional on-air reveal that highlighted the bond between her and longtime co-anchor Hoda Kotb. Gifford said she plans to retire from the program in April 2019, on what will be her 11th anniversary on _Today_. She and Kotb have co-hosted the show’s fourth hour for the past decade. Gifford shared the “bittersweet” news on Tuesday, saying she is excited about her upcoming projects but will miss her team, particularly Kotb, and the work they did together. “I’ve been in this business for 120 years and never worked with a more beautiful group of people who just give, give every day,” she said. “I love you Hoda mama.” > [](https://twitter.com/TODAYshow/status/1072510492860706817) Gifford credited Kotb with her decision to stay on the show for the previous decade. “I thought I would stay one year,” she said. “Something happened along the way — fell in love with a beautiful Egyptian goddess.” Kotb grew emotional as she paid tribute to her co-anchor. “The minute you stepped into my life with both feet, everything changed,” she said, as a crew member lowered tissues on to the set so the women could wipe away their tears. “You chose me. And that’s how it started. Everything good that’s happened in my life has happened since you came.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5476814/kathie-lee-gifford-leaving-today-show/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5476814/kathie-lee-gifford-leaving-today-show/"},"headline":"Kathie Lee Gifford Tearfully Announces Her Exit From Today, and It Made Hoda Cry Too","datePublished":"2018-12-11T16:57:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T22:15:02.576Z","description":"Kathie Lee Gifford will be leaving the Today show next April","url":"https://time.com/5476814/kathie-lee-gifford-leaving-today-show/","keywords":["Television","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte32d846fbf66d858/69894149457a526d79d60212/kathie-lee-hoda-today-show.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte32d846fbf66d858/69894149457a526d79d60212/kathie-lee-hoda-today-show.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Today - Season 66","caption":"Today - Season 66","creditText":"NBC—NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/television/","name":"Television"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5476814/kathie-lee-gifford-leaving-today-show/","name":"Kathie Lee Gifford Tearfully Announces Her Exit From Today, and It Made Hoda Cry Too"}}]}] ```