All About Lester Holt's Wife and His Beautiful Family (PICS)
The NBC Nightly News anchor shares two sons and three grandchildren with his wife, Carol Hagen.
Lester Holt may be the face of NBC's Nightly News, but to his grandkids, he's "granddude." The veteran newscaster is a devoted husband and father — and not the only Holt at NBC. Read on to learn all about his family.
Lester Holt and his wife Carol Hagen
Holt and Hagen met when they were both 21 (she was a flight attendant at the time) and wed two years later in 1982 in San Francisco.
Due to Holt's career in broadcasting, the couple often moved around the country, and Holt has always given Hagen credit for understanding the needs of the job. In 2015, he told Extra, "She understands that when the bell rings, I like to answer it, when the big story's going on, I want to be there," adding, "I love her to death, she has been so wonderful, she knows this job is going to bring a lot of late-night phone calls, but she's there for me and that means an awful lot."
The pair now live in Manhattan with their labradoodle, Lucy.
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Holt and Hagen have two sons
The couple welcomed their two sons, Stefan and Cameron, in 1987 and 1990, respectively. After graduating from Stanford, Cameron went into finance, and currently works at Morgan Stanley, according to People. Stefan decided to follow in his father's footsteps, and is now a co-anchor at the local NBC station in Chicago.
Stefan told Fete Lifestyle Magazine, that he was always around his dad's work as a kid.
"We moved to New York when I was 13, and throughout high school I would wake up early on Saturday mornings to hang out with Dad at 30 Rock when he anchored Weekend TODAY," he said. "In fact, my dad gave me one of my first driving lessons in the parking lot at MSNBC," the younger Holt added. "I only remember hitting one curb."
Both boys and Carol appeared on TODAY when Holt was promoted to his current gig to congratulate him on his success.
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Lester Holt is "granddude" to three grandkids
Stefan and his wife Morgan have three sons: Henry, Samuel, and James. The boys call Holt "granddude," a moniker he explained on The Kelly Clarkson Show. “When my daughter-in-law was pregnant with her first baby ... she said, ‘Well, what do you guys want to be called?’" he said. "I said, ‘I think I want to be ‘Granddude’ because ‘grand,’ it bows to the fact that I’m older. But ‘dude’ says, ‘I still got a little bit. I still got a little,’ you know?"
In 2021, Holt excitedly shared the moment Samuel was able to recognize and label his grandparent from a broadcast, pointing at "granddude" on the screen. So sweet.
