E-Paper
Peter Alexander: Why is he leaving NBC after 22 years? All on his wife and daughters
Peter Alexander, 49, is leaving NBC News after 22 years to spend more time with his daughters.
Peter Alexander, 49, is departing from NBC News after 22 years with the network, which encompasses his enduring position as co-host of Saturday TODAY.
Alexander revealed his exit during a broadcast on March 28, expressing his desire to dedicate more time to his two daughters and to “challenge himself with something new.”
Peter Alexander's wife and daughters
Alexander, along with his wife TV journalist Alison Starling and their daughters, Ava, 12, and Emma, 10, reside in Washington, D.C., while Saturday TODAY is aired from Studio 1A at 30 Rock in New York City.
“I’ve been away from home more than 80 nights in the last seven months. More than 200 Friday nights away from my family in the last seven years,” Alexander stated. “So, in this limited window before my daughters lose interest in hanging out with me...I’m eager to carve out a better balance between my personal and professional lives.”
In an interview conducted in the mid-2010s with Washington Family, he recounted the events surrounding his initial meeting with his future wife. Interestingly, she initially played a bit hard-to-get!
"Alison and I met while we were reporters for competing stations in Seattle 15 years ago," he stated. "She blew me off for most of a decade before I finally wore her down."
He further discussed the traditions he wishes to instill in his daughters as they mature.
"My dad always took us to the Oakland A's games, and Ava just got her first Washington Nationals wiffle ball and bat," Alexander said. "Still, I'm not sure how nine innings will go with the girls just yet. We've already taken Ava to Annie and The Wizard of Oz at The National Theatre. I'm hoping that tradition sticks."
Meet Ava and Emma
Alexander's eldest daughter, Ava, was born in July 2013, coinciding with the week of Alexander's own birth.
Emma Pink Alexander, Alexander's second daughter, was born in June 2015.
The middle name, Pink, was chosen to honor the maiden name of Alexander's mother, he told TODAY.
Alexander describes Emma as being very much "like my wife," noting that his second daughter possesses a ""very big hearted," "very caring" and "very social."
‘We are going to miss you,’ Peter Alexander's colleagues on his exit
Alexander became a part of Saturday TODAY in October 2018, and in 2021, he was appointed as NBC’s co-chief White House correspondent alongside Kristen Welker. Together, Alexander and Welker co-hosted Saturday TODAY for a duration of three years, from 2020 to 2023, until Welker took over from Chuck Todd as the moderator of NBC’s "Meet the Press."
Since that time, he has been seated at the anchor desk with Laura Jarrett, who joined NBC in January 2023 as a senior legal correspondent.
Speaking about Alexander’s exit, Jarrett said, “Peter: We love you, we are going to miss you.” She continued: “You are a brilliant journalist. You are a good and decent man, and you are an extraordinary father. You only get one shot to be Ava and Emma’s dad...they are lucky to have you as their father."
Chloe Arensberg, the senior vice president and Washington bureau chief, along with Matt Carluccio, the executive producer of Today, issued a statement saying, “Peter has been a trusted presence with great range across NBC News, and a friend to so many across the Washington Bureau, Today and the broader NBC News team. We are grateful for all his contributions and wish him the best."
