Savannah Guthrie wasn’t shocked by cohost Hoda Kotb‘s resolution to go away the Right now present.

“Hoda and I’ve had this dialogue for years and years,” Guthrie, 52, completely advised Us Weekly at Undertaking Wholesome Minds 2nd Annual World Psychological Well being Day Gala at Spring Studios in New York Metropolis on Thursday, October 10. “We’re expensive mates and we’ve got a whole lot of similarities. We’re mainly in the identical section of life.”

Guthrie understood why Kotb, 60, selected to prioritize her household, including, “We have now these little youngsters that we each really feel so fortunate that we bought to have later in life. It makes a whole lot of sense to me what she has determined.”

After internet hosting the speak present with Kotb since 2018, Guthrie is making ready for the following chapter of Right now with out her pal.

“I used to be so unhappy for myself and for the present as a result of — to me — she’s irreplaceable. I used to be glad for her as her pal,” Guthrie famous. “I simply suppose she’s being so artistic and so daring and stepping out into this wonderful new future that she doesn’t precisely know what it should seem like. She believes in herself and he or she is aware of and he or she hears that decision. I discover that to be unimaginable.”

Kotb’s profession at NBC Information has spanned practically three many years after a earlier stint at Dateline. She has been cohosting Right now with Guthrie following Matt Lauer’s exit. She additionally hosted the third hour with Kathie Lee Gifford after which Jenna Bush Hager.

“I noticed that it was time for me to show the web page at 60, and to attempt one thing new. That is the fitting time for me to maneuver on,” Kotb introduced the information on-air final month,citing her daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, as motivation for the choice. “We love you a lot and that nobody on the present needs to think about this place with out you.”

Kotb clarified she wasn’t leaving NBC utterly.

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Information of Hoda Kotb’s Right now present exit is bittersweet for her cohosts. “I simply turned 60, and it was such a monumental second for me after I turned 60 years outdated as a result of I began desirous about that decade, like, what does that decade imply? What does it maintain? What’s it gonna have for me?” Kotb, […]

“My time at NBC has been the longest skilled love affair of my life. However solely since you’ve been beside me on this twenty-six-year journey. Wanting again, the mathematics is nuts. 26 years at NBC Information — Ten years at Dateline, seven on the seven o’clock hour, sixteen on the ten o’clock hour,” she continued. “I’m picturing your faces and your households and all of the methods you’ve lifted me up and impressed me. That’s my coronary heart singing. So a lot of my skilled relationships have turn into a few of my most cherished friendships.”

She concluded: “Savannah: my rock. Jenna: my ride-or-die. Al: my longest pal at 30 Rock. Craig, Carson, Sheinelle and Dylan: my household. Libby, Mazz and Talia: my fearless leaders,” she mentioned. “I’ll miss every one in every of you at TODAY desperately.”

Guthrie advised Us how she first discovered about Kotb’s exit, sharing, “It was the Monday earlier than the world discovered and he or she known as me as a result of I had had the time off and I used to be touring. She known as me and the very first thing I mentioned to her is, ‘I’m pleased with you. I like you, you’re wonderful. And it doesn’t matter the place we sit, we’ll at all times be by one another’s aspect.’”

Earlier than Kotb formally indicators off in January 2025, Guthrie mirrored on how their connection was solidified on display screen.

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“On the floor, it’s the identical present and we’re nonetheless a information present the place we’re overlaying the information after which doing enjoyable issues within the later hours. However I like our connection and I like our partnership and I’m actually pleased with it. In lots of, some ways, it was easy,” she continued. “It’s fairly simple to like Hoda and it’s simple to belief Hoda. She’s such an unimaginable journalist in addition to being a ray of sunshine. If you need to rise up at these hours, you wish to rise up with Hoda. I hope that feeling of pleasure and partnership and belief is pervasive and that we supply on her legacy.”

Guthrie additionally spoke about how she has been prioritizing necessary instances outdoors of the present — together with the World Psychological Well being Day Gala.

“My youngsters are little. They’re 10 and seven and we speak so much about our emotions and emotions are welcome in our home,” the information anchor, who shares daughter Vale, 10, and son Charley, 7, with husband Michael Feldman, shared. “We’re not afraid of our emotions. Emotions are simply info and never essentially a actuality.”

She continued: “We’re allowed to work by our emotions and say what’s on our minds and our hearts. I attempt to stay that out and allow them to know that they’re accepted and liked and embraced by me and their dad and their household and by God. Like all mother and father, you’ve gotten good moments and dangerous moments, however that’s my purpose.”

With reporting by Andrew Nodell