Hoda Kotb Becomes 'Today' Co-Anchor! With Daughter Haley Joy, Hoda Says: 'Let's Go Girls!'

HODA KOTB, LEFT, AND SAVANNAH GUTHRIE IN NOVEMBER. CREDIT: HIROKO MASUIKE/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Hoda Kotb Becomes 'Today' Co-Anchor! With Daughter Haley Joy, Hoda Says: 'Let's Go Girls!'

Hoda Kotb (pronounced COT-bee) will permanently replace disgraced NBC Today show anchor Matt Lauer, the network announced on Tuesday. For the first time in 'Today's' history, NBC's most profitable franchise will be placed in the hands of two women -- Kotb and existing anchor Savannah Guthrie. 

“We are kicking off the year right, because Hoda is officially the co-anchor of ‘Today,’” Ms. Guthrie said, sitting next to Ms. Kotb. “This has to be the most popular decision NBC News has ever made, and I am so thrilled.”

Ms. Kotb, 53, responded: “I am pinching myself.”

Guthrie has been a 'Today' anchor since 2012 and Kotb joined NBC News in 1998 as a correspondent for 'Dateline'. In 2008 Kotb became the co-host of the fourth hour of 'Today' and rushed into the emergency substitute host spot on the morning that Laurer was fired.

An Egyptian-American, Kotb adopted in early 2017 a little girl Haley Joy and lives since fall 2016 with her longtime partner, financier Joel Shiffman. The event has completely changed her life, says Hoda, who has long wanted to be a mother but -- as a breast cancer survivor -- couldn't conceive children. 

NY Mag Takes Another Look At Matt Laurer's Takedown Of Today Show's Ann Curry

NY Mag shares again its 2013 story about Matt Lauer's takedown of 'Today' show cohost Ann Curry.

In the light of day on Dec. 4, the real problem is probably that she wouldn't . . . well, you know . . . make her body his playground. Who knows? Maybe she spoke up to 'papa'. Or maybe women liked Ann Curry more than Lauer. I sure did.

This article, read again against the backdrop of Lauer's outrageous and uneven grillings of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the 2016 election cycle, send the message that strong, competent women go nowhere in Matt Laurer's world. If you didn't kiss Lauer's butt -- LITERALLY -- you're not going anywhere.

How many other Matt Lauers are out there? As painful as these last months have been for women, let's take them the hell down if they fit the Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose, misogynist models. ~ Anne

Related: Revisiting the Bitter Matt Lauer -- Ann Cutty 'Today Show' Drama New York Magazine

Lauer's 'Double Life': Inside NBC, The Network Is Trying To Expunge The Lauer Era Vanity Fair

NBC Fires 'Today' Show Co-Host Matt Lauer Over Sexual Harassment Allegations

NBC Fires 'Today' Show Co-Host Matt Lauer Over Sexual Harassment Allegations

NBC has fired its leading morning news anchor Matt Lauer over sexual harassment allegations, the network’s president for news said in a memo to staff on Wednesday. 

NBC News chairman Andrew Lack said the accusation against Laurer by a colleague was a "clear violation of our company's standards."

Lack said it was the first complaint lodged against Lauer, 59, since he took over as anchor of the show in 1997, but there was "reason to believe" it wasn't an isolated incident.

Mid-afternoon on Wednesday, Variety dropped a story on its own two-month-long investigation. A key finding of the piece is that Lauer's sexually-predatory behavior was no secret at NBC News. Surely, one concludes, not all the women at NBC could possibly be so shocked over Matt Lauer's alleged behavior. 

It began with the button under his desk that allowed him to lock his door from inside without getting up, two accusers told Variety. Gone was the fear of someone walking in on Lauer while he was doing his business. What happened next is every bit as gross as the Charlie Rose allegations. 

According to Variety, Lauer allegedly sexually harassed several female colleagues, including an instance in which he “summoned a . . . female employee to his office, and then dropped his pants, showing her his penis,” then  reprimanding the “visibly shaken” employee for “not engaging in a sexual act.” Three women who identified themselves to Variety as victims of Lauer’s sexual harassment, coupled with dozens of NBC staffers past and present told other stories about NBC's big star, including gifting a female colleague with a sex toy (complete with an “explicit note about how he wanted to use it on her”), inviting young female employees to his hotel room while on assignment covering the Olympics, asking female producers about their sex partners and "offering to trade names" and playing "fuck, marry or kill" with staffers. Lauer was often open about which of his co-stars he'd prefer to sleep with.

And it seems that the married Lauer -- who maintains a distant relationship with his wife -- had an insatiable sexual appetite.