NBC News veteran Natalie Morales exits for ‘The Talk’ on CBS

Natalie Morales is ending her long run at NBC News and is expected to take a chair on the CBS daytime show “The Talk.”

Morales, 49, told NBC colleagues of her plans to leave Friday, according to a memo obtained by The Times. An NBC News representative declined to comment on the correspondent’s future, but two people familiar with her plans said she will be joining “The Talk.”

Morales joined NBC 22 years ago as a correspondent at its Connecticut TV station. She moved to NBC’s cable news channel MSNBC and then joined the network news franchise “Today” as a national correspondent and a co-anchor of its third hour in 2006. She rose to become the flagship program’s news anchor in 2011.

Morales moved to Los Angeles in 2016, where she served as West Coast anchor for “Today.” The most prominent Latina journalist at NBC News, Morales was co-host of the entertainment news show “Access Hollywood” from 2016 to 2019.

While at “Today,” the multilingual Morales covered the rescue of the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped underground for 69 days in fall 2010, earning her a National Headliner Award.

In recent years, Morales has been a correspondent on NBC’s “Dateline.” The long-form true-crime stories she worked on will appear throughout the current TV season.

At “The Talk,” Morales will be joining a shifting co-host lineup.

Sharon Osbourne left the program earlier this year following a controversy over her public defense of British TV host Piers Morgan’s criticisms of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The network said Osborne’s behavior “didn’t align with our values.”

Cari Ann Inaba announced her departure from the program in August.

Akbar Gbajabiamila, a former NFL player, joined the program on Sept. 13 alongside co-hosts Sheryl Underwood, Amanda Kloots and Jerry O’Connell.

A CBS representative for “The Talk” declined to comment.