Meet Lester Holt’s wife of 43 years, Carol Hagen: the NBC Nightly News anchor – who is stepping down from his role this summer – met the flight attendant-turned-property agent when he was 21

Feb 25, 2025

Carol Hagen and Lester Holt at the Dateline 25th Anniversary event together in 2015. Photo: NBCUniversal via Getty Images

NBC anchor Lester Holt has dedicated his life to reporting the news – even dragging his wife Carol Hagen along with him on a news story in Florida on one of their early dates ...

Lester Holt is stepping down from his role as anchor of NBC Nightly News after a decade hosting the programme, as reported by the news outlet on Monday.

Lester Holt will dedicate his time entirely to Dateline moving forward. Photo: @lesterholtnbc/Instagram

Although Holt, 65, will cease to be the show’s anchor and managing editor from the beginning of the summer, he will instead devote all of his time to the other NBC show he works on, Dateline, which he has anchored since 2011.

NBC anchor Lester Holt and his wife Carol Hagen-Holt at a Nordic State Dinner in 2016 at the White House in Washington at the invitation of then-president Barack Obama. Photo: Getty Images

“After 10 years, 17 if you include my years on the weekends, the time has come for me to step away from my role as anchor of Nightly News,” Holt wrote in a note to staffers Monday. “It has truly been the honour of a lifetime to work with each of you every day, keeping journalism as our true north and our viewers at the centre of everything we do.” He added that he was “thrilled to be able to work more closely with my enormously talented friends at Dateline”.

But what do we know about Lester Holt’s personal life, away from the cameras? Meet his long-time supportive wife, Carol Hagen.

What does Carol Hagen do?

Lester Holt reporting in a condo collapse in Surfside, Florida, in 2021. Photo: @lesterholtnbc/Instagram

While her husband is famous for his on-screen persona, Hagen has chosen a career in real estate. She was described as an “accomplished” property agent by People magazine and even helped to sell her and Holt’s New York City flat in 2017.

“Carol’s ability to listen and engage has been described as ‘reassuring’, and ‘calming’ by her clients, while her commitment to professionalism and discretion makes her a highly sought-after representative,” it says on her Realtor.com bio.

What airline did Lester Holt’s wife Carol Hagen work for?

Lester Holt pictured in December last year. Photo: @lesterholtnbc/Instagram

Before switching to real estate, Carol Hagen used to work as a flight attendant at United Airlines, according to People magazine. After she was laid off by the company in 1981, she followed her beau to New York, where he took up a job reporting on camera with WCBS.