Hoda Kotb Is as 'Vibrant' as Ever Ahead of Her 60th Birthday Next Year: 'I Feel Like I'm Evolving'

The 'Today' co-host said of aging: "It's like this great, crazy adventure, and I think we used to dread it”

Hoda Kotb knows she has a lot to look forward to as she heads into a new decade.

On Monday’s episode of Today with Hoda & Jenna, the broadcaster, 59, shared why she was excited to reach a milestone birthday in 2024.

“I am so excited about turning 60,” she gushed to cohost Jenna Bush Hager. “First of all, I can’t even believe this is me saying this. I look at Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock — all these people who I sort of came up watching and admiring. Lenny Kravitz, Michelle Obama — all these people who you’re like, ‘You’re kidding me?’ 60 is amazing.”

Related: Hoda Kotb Says She Isn’t 'Worried' About Aging: '59 Is an Amazing Year'

While reflecting on the “crazy” chapters she’s experienced in life, Kotb explained she was “so glad” that “all of my stuff is happening now” in a culture where aging has been embraced.

“There was a time when people hid their ages,” she added. “‘Don’t say it, don’t say it.’ Whatever that was.”

“I feel vibrant, excited, and I feel like I’m evolving. I feel like I’m different. I feel like I’m different than I was a month ago, six months ago, a year ago. And, it’s like this great, crazy adventure and I think we used to dread it,” the Dateline correspondent continued, noting how the leading ladies of The Golden Girls were “all 50” and Pitt, is 60. 

Related: Hoda Kotb Says Kathie Lee Gifford Is 'Happier Than She's Ever Been' as Former 'Today' Co-Host Turns 70

Bush Hager commended her friend’s “attitude” towards heading into a new decade “not scared” and without “fear” and “regret.”

Invoking Oprah Winfrey, “the person who we admire more than anything,” Kotb asked viewers to “think about” how the daytime television legend is “about to turn 70.”

“It’s about evolution. You can be 30 and be stuck; you can be 30 and be like a 50-, 60- or 70-year-old. We know them. You can be 40 and be that person," she explained. "But if you are curious and growing and evolving, life’s fun. Otherwise, you can get stuck at any age.”

Kotb added that bodies are simply meant to carry "your coolness around — that’s all your body is there for, carrying your spirit around."

"If you’re spirit’s young, you’re young. And if you’re spirit’s not, you’re not," she said. "Anyway, I’m excited."

Related: Savannah Guthrie Says She and Hoda Kotb Bond Over Being 'Older Moms': 'It Gives You Perspective'

Kotb has previously opened up about reaching milestones later in life and got candid about her journey with motherhood in her 50s.

"As an older mom, I think there are a lot of beautiful parts and challenges too,” she said during an episode of Today with Hoda & Jenna in May 2022. “I see all the good parts about being an older mom. Like, I'm in my own skin, I know who I am, I've got much more patience and love and all that stuff. But along with that also comes the fact that you're an older mother.”

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Kotb — who welcomed her first child at 52 — is mom to daughters Hope, 4, and Haley, 6. She adopted her daughters with her ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman, from whom she split in January 2022.

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