Hoda Kotb sent shockwaves through Today show viewers after calling it quits following five years on air. While Kotb, 60, publicly cited family as the reason for her departure, a Puck report published Friday,

Hoda Kotb is saying goodbye to the "Today" show. While Kotb is a current New Yorker and the product of growing up in Virginia, her origins go back to Oklahoma. Kotb's parents were Egyptian immigrants who left Cairo to study at the University of Oklahoma. Soon after, Kotb was born in Norman, Oklahoma, in 1964.

Hoda Kotb may have had no choice but to say goodbye to Today. According to an insider, the news anchor, 60, was allegedly asked to take a pay cut to her $20 million salary before making the decision to leave the morning show after 26 years.