Today Show Hosts React to Hoda Kotb’s Surprising Exit

Information of Hoda Kotb’s In the present day present exit is bittersweet for her cohosts.

“I simply turned 60, and it was such a monumental second for me once I turned 60 years outdated as a result of I began fascinated by that decade, like, what does that decade imply? What does it maintain? What’s it gonna have for me?” Kotb, 60, tearfully shared on the Thursday, September 26, episode of In the present day. “And I noticed that it was time for me to show the web page at 60 and to attempt one thing new.”

Kotb defined that she made the choice to go away In the present day shortly after her sixtieth birthday episode in August.

“I remembered standing outdoors, this lovely bunch of individuals with all these attractive indicators, and I believed, ‘That is what the highest of the wave looks like for me,’ and I believed, ‘It could possibly’t get higher.’ And [I] determined that is proper time for me to, sort of, transfer on,” she mentioned. “After which, I thought of — clearly, I had my kiddos late in life — and I used to be pondering they deserve an even bigger piece of my time, the pie that I’ve. I really feel like we solely have a finite period of time. And so, with all that being mentioned, that is the toughest factor on the planet.”

Kotb — who shares her daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, along with her ex-fiancé, Joel Schiffman — famous that she is going to stay on In the present day till January 1, 2025. “I’m gonna keep within the NBC household,” she added. “However it’s sort of a giant deal for me.”

Scroll right down to see how the In the present day present household reacted to information of Kotb’s exit:

Savannah Guthrie

“Hoda, we love you a lot, and whenever you go searching and also you see these tears, they’re love. You’re so liked. And truthfully, I don’t suppose any of us can think about — we don’t wish to think about this place with out you,” Guthrie, 52, mentioned by tears on the second hour of In the present day’s Thursday episode. “So, it’s difficult ‘trigger we love you a lot and we don’t need you to ever go.”

Kotb’s coanchor went on to state that she’s “so proud” of her good friend, including, “You could have guts. For somebody to go away on the high of their sport, to go away one thing that’s great, that you simply love, the place it’s simple and comfy and delightful and enjoyable and say, ‘However I dream even greater for myself…’ You could have a lot guts. You encourage me. I like you.”

On the present’s third hour, the digital camera panned over to point out Guthrie emotionally consuming leftovers from the second hour’s cooking section. “Nobody’s taking the information worse than Savannah Guthrie,” Craig Melvin joked.

Guthrie, in the meantime, famous, “We will maintain our sorrow of lacking her and loving her a lot with our gratitude that it occurred. … And simply the enjoyment and admiration of her bravery.”

Jenna Bush Hager

“Hoda advised me only a couple days in the past, and when she advised me, my first response was from my intestine and it was virtually loopy. … I mentioned, ‘No, you possibly can’t depart,’” Bush Hager, 42, mentioned by a circulation of tears on Thursday’s episode of In the present day With Hoda & Jenna.

“You’re who I come to once I’m feeling joyful, once I’m feeling uncertain. You’re who I come to and also you believed in me first,” she continued. “We now have numerous bosses advert I like them, however this girl, on October 28, 2013 — I seemed it up — mentioned, ‘Hey, wanna come sit subsequent to me? There’s room.’”

Bush Hager famous that she referred to as her father, former President George W. Bush, on Wednesday, September 25. “He mentioned, ‘Oh, she’s leaving ‘trigger it’s time, and also you’re gonna be fantastic. It’s your flip. It’s OK,’” she shared, after which Kotb stood up and gave her a spherical of applause.

“It’s your flip,” Kotb advised her cohost. “And whoever sits on this seat, whoever sits on this seat, goes to have the best job on the planet ‘trigger they’re sitting subsequent to you.”

Sheinelle Jones

“The one factor that folks know for positive about this group is we’re household. And I’m telling you, Hoda has a relationship with each single individual on this sofa in her personal manner, so I believe we’re all simply sort of wrestling with it inside,” Jones, 46, mentioned whereas sitting on a sofa with Kotb and their colleagues on Thursday. “However we additionally know what a dynamic mother you’re, and presence you’re. And your complete motion with wellness. You will change the world. And we all know it.”

Throughout the present’s third hour, she praised Kotb and Guthrie for making waves as In the present day’s first all-female anchor workforce in 2018. “The 2 of you’ve been such trailblazers. With two sisters helming a nationwide morning, you guys modified the sport and made it, now, it’s sort of regular,” she gushed. “It’s like, OK. And also you two, you guys did that.”

Al Roker

“I’ve by no means recognized anyone such as you. I’ve recognized you without end, and I like you,” Roker, 70, mentioned on Thursday’s second hour of In the present day. He later famous that whereas the solid will “take into consideration what it means for us,” it’s extra about what the choice will imply for Kotb. “We couldn’t be happier.”

Craig Melvin

Melvin, 45, reacted to information of Kotb’s exit by praising her for being the identical individual on and off the display. “Folks on this enterprise, when that little purple gentle, when it goes off, they’re totally different individuals. We’ve labored with all these individuals earlier than. You’re the alternative,” she mentioned on Thursday’s second hour of In the present day. “When that little purple gentle goes off, you’re precisely like individuals see you within the morning — simply the largest coronary heart. You’ve been the guts of the present for a very long time, and there’s no changing that.”

Within the third hour, he added: “It’s unhappy information for us, nice information for Hope and Haley.”

Tom Llamas

Whereas reporting on Hurricane Helene on Thursday’s third hour of In the present day, the NBC Information correspondent joked, “About 40 minutes in the past, I virtually bought knocked over, and the crew mentioned, ‘Was that Helene?’ I mentioned, ‘No, that wasn’t Helene. That was the Hoda information.’”