Exclusive

Meredith Vieira's Today Show Sendoff? Pizza Party!

Exclusive! News anchor talks exit from hit morning show. Plus, the one thing she will not miss about the gig

By Marc Malkin, Brett Malec May 26, 2011 1:25 PMTags
Meredith VieiraJason LaVeris/FilmMagic

Meredith Vieira admits her exit from the Today show is bitter sweet.

"I will miss the group," the news anchor recently told us at the 36th Annual Gracie Awards in Beverly Hill. "It's a phenomenal group of people."

But one thing she will not miss about being part of the hit NBC morning show?

"I will not miss the hours at all!" Vieira said. "It's nice to not have to answer to an alarm clock because you really do begin to feel you're a slave to time. And when you're getting up at 2:30 every morning... I'm a night person. I'm not even a day person. So I'm getting on average two or three hours of sleep a night. That's hard."

While Vieira's looking forward to a lighter schedule, she'll still be busy hosting Who Wants to Be A Millionaire and being a mom. "The day after my last day, my daughter graduates from high school and two days later my son graduates from college," she said. "So I'm going to be busy that first week, which is good. I won't really have time to think about the show so when I go back to watching there'll be a little bit of distance."

As for if she's got any new TV prospects on the horizon, Vieira said, "I probably want life to lead me a little bit more than me attempting to lead it but I'm very loyal to NBC and if I can find something within the family there then I will stay with them."

And don't expect to see any big going away parties when she wraps her last show next month. "I think there's going to be something for the cast and crew afterwards," Vieira said. "More pizza-type stuff. That's a little more my style."