Ann Curry Says Goodbye On Her Final 'Today' Broadcast

Ann Curry, 55, the short-lived co-host of NBC’s Today along with Matt Lauer, 54, said an emotional goodbye to her fans and her “Today show family” on her final broadcast this morning, making it clear that her departure was not her choice. Contributors Al Roker and Natalie Morales were also present for her tearful speech.

“I will still be part of the Today show family, but I’m going to have a new title and a new role,” Curry said, reports USA Today. “And this is not as I expected to ever leave this couch after 15 years, but I am so grateful, especially to all of you who watch, because Matt and I — and everyone who sits on this couch — we often call ourselves a family, but you are the real Today show family,” Curry said, addressing the viewers.

In a note that seemed a clear jab at NBC for diminishing her commitment, Curry went on to say, “You are why I have ventured into dangerous places and interviewed dictators and jumped out of planes and off bridges and climbed mountains and landed in the South Pole and convinced the Dalai Lama to come live in our studio. I have loved you and I have wanted to give you the world, and I still do.”

Lauer echoed a sentiment he has expressed in the past when he told Curry, “You have the biggest heart in the business …. You put it on display every single day in this studio and you have for almost 20 years. The way you care about people comes through in every single story you report.”

Curry will continue to contribute to Today and NBC in her new role heading up an at-large news team that roams the world to follow breaking stories, reports the New York Daily News. It has not yet been confirmed who will replace Curry, though chief legal analyst for NBC Savannah Guthrie is the word on everyone’s lips.

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