Meet Lester Holt's Wife Carol & Their Two Sons

Television mainstay Lester Holt's net worth helps him afford a comfortable life with his wife, Carol Hagen, and their two kids, Stefan and Cameron. Let's dive into what the news anchor's life looks like at home.

Lester and Carol met back in 1980 when he was still a radio anchor for KCBS, and she worked as a flight attendant. The two were married in 1982, and the rest, as they say, is history. After city-hopping for a few years wherever Lester's career would take him, from New York to California, they eventually landed in Chicago where they started their family.

Stefan Holt was born in 1987 and was so influenced by his dad's work throughout his life that he decided he wanted a taste of the teleprompter for himself. He attended Pepperdine as an undergrad, double-majoring in political science and broadcast journalism, and has since gone on to anchor at WMAQ-TV and NBC 5 News. Cameron, born in 1990, ventured down a different route. After attending Stanford University, he found a career for himself in finance. Lester revealed during an interview with New York Family Magazine in 2019 that, after he did an internship, he deduced that journalists "work too hard," and the field was not for him. Hey, he's not wrong.

Having a career as a news anchor is not for the faint of heart; demanding hours, horrifying stories, and dangerous situations are the norm for many, and maintaining a relationship while being surrounded by so much tragedy and a rigorous schedule is no easy feat. Luckily for Lester Holt and Carol Hagen, they've got it down to a science.

Carol knew what she was getting into when she met Lester, as he already had a budding career as a reporter, even taking her to cover a forest fire on their first date. Over the years, though, they've developed some tips and tricks to keep their dynamic running smoothly. "We laugh a lot, we really do. I can be silly, she can be sillier. We just laugh through things and we know that everything, tough times will be a story at some point, and boy have I put her through some tough times with this job," Lester remarked to Extra in 2015. 

But their marriage of over 30 years doesn't just sit in the hands of Lester's career. When speaking to Sactown Magazine in 2015, Carol expressed, "I fell in love with the guy who wasn't the TV guy. I fell in love with Lester Holt with the scanner in his car, running around and covering stories. He could stop doing TV right now, and it wouldn't matter to me."