Today Show hosts react to Hoda Kotb's surprise departure

News from Hoda Kotb'S Today Leaving the show is bittersweet for her co-hosts.

“I just turned 60 and it was such a monumental moment for me when I turned 60 because I started thinking about this decade, like, what does this decade mean? What does it hold? What is it going to bring for me?” Kotb, 60, tearfully shared on the Thursday, Sept. 26, episode. Today“And I realized that at 60, it was time for me to start a new chapter and try something new.”

Kotb explained that she had made the decision to leave Today shortly after her 60th birthday episode in August.

“I remember standing outside and looking at this wonderful group of people with all these great signs, and I thought, 'This is what the crest of the wave feels like to me,' and I thought, 'It can't get any better than this.' And [I] I decided it was time for me to move on,” she said. “And then I thought about it – of course, I had my children late in life – and I thought they deserve a bigger piece of my time, of the pie that I have. I feel like we only have a limited amount of time. And when you consider all of that, it's the hardest thing in the world.”

Kotb — who shares her daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, with her ex-fiancé, Joel Schiffman — noted that she will remain in office Today until January 1, 2025. “I'm going to stay in the NBC family,” she added. “But it's a pretty big deal for me.”

Scroll down to see how the Today The show family reacted to the news of Kotb's exit:

Savannah Guthrie

“Hoda, we love you so much, and when you look around and see those tears, it's love. You are so loved. And honestly, I don't think any of us can imagine this – we don't want to imagine this place without you,” Guthrie, 52, said tearfully in the second hour of Today's Thursday episode. “So, it's complicated because we love you so much and we don't want you to ever leave.”

Kotb's co-host went on to say she was “so proud” of her friend, adding, “You have guts. When someone leaves at the peak of their career, leaves something wonderful that you love, where it's easy and comfortable and beautiful and fun, and says, 'But I dream of even bigger dreams…' You have so much guts. You inspire me. I love you.”

Related: Hoda Kotb's cutest family photos through the years

Hoda Kotb has often gushed about how her loved ones have shaped her life – especially her daughters Haley and Hope. The Today host became a mother when she adopted her little ones with then-partner Joel Schiffman in 2017 and 2019 respectively. The former couple got engaged in 2019 after six years of dating […]

In the third hour of the show, the camera panned over to show Guthrie emotionally eating the leftovers from the second hour's cooking segment. “Nobody is taking the news worse than Savannah Guthrie,” Craig Melvin joked.

Guthrie, meanwhile, noted: “We can combine our grief at missing her and loving her so much with our gratitude that it happened. … And just the joy and admiration for her bravery.”

Jenna Bush Hager

“Hoda just told me a few days ago, and when she told me, my first reaction was gut-wrenching and almost crazy. … I said, 'No, you can't go,'” Bush Hager, 42, said tearfully on Thursday's episode Today with Hoda and Jenna.

“You're the one I come to when I'm feeling happy or when I'm feeling insecure. You're the one I come to and you were the first to believe in me,” she continued. “We have a lot of bosses and I like them, but this lady on October 28, 2013 – I checked – said, 'Hey, do you want to sit next to me? There's room.'”

Related: Everything Hoda Kotb said today about dating, breakups and more

Hoda Kotb doesn't let breakups stop her from having fun and finding love again. “Life is beautiful. Try things, get out, get out of your house and your apartment,” Kotb told Entertainment Tonight in March 2024. “I feel like life is meant to be experienced and [you should] step in. I […]

Bush Hager noted that she had called her father, the former president George W. Bushon Wednesday, September 25. “He said, 'Oh, she's leaving because it's time, and you're going to be OK. It's your turn. It's OK,'” she said, prompting Kotb to stand and applaud her.

“Your turn,” Kotb told her co-host. “And whoever is sitting in that seat, whoever is sitting in that seat is going to have the easiest job in the world because they're sitting next to you.”

Sheinelle Jones

“The one thing people know for sure about this group is that we are family. And I'll tell you, Hoda relates to every single person on this couch in her own way, so I think we're all wrestling with that internally,” Jones, 46, said as she sat on a couch with Kotb and her colleagues on Thursday. “But we also know what a dynamic mother you are and what a presence you have. And your whole movement for wellness. You're going to change the world. And we know it.”

During the third hour of the show, she praised Kotb and Guthrie for making a splash when Today's first all-female anchor team in 2018. “You two are such trailblazers. With two sisters leading a national morning, you guys changed the game and made it kind of normal today,” she gushed. “It's like, OK. And you two, you did it.”

Al Roker

“I've never known anyone like you. I've known you forever and I love you,” Roker, 70, said Thursday in the second hour of Today. He later noted that while the cast will “reflect on what it means for us,” it's more about what the decision will mean for Kotb. “We couldn't be happier.”

Craig Melvin

Melvin, 45, reacted to the news of Kotb's exit by praising her for being the same person on and off the screen. “People in this business are different people when that little red light is on, when it goes off. We've worked with all of these people before. You're the opposite,” she said Thursday in the second hour of Today“When the little red light goes off, you are exactly how people see you in the morning – just the biggest heart. You have been the heart of the show for a long time and there is no replacing that.”

In the third hour, he added: “This is sad news for us, great news for Hope and Haley.”

Tom Lamas

During coverage of Hurricane Helene in the third hour of Thursday TodayThe NBC News correspondent joked: “About 40 minutes ago I almost got knocked over and the crew asked, 'Was that Helene?' I said, 'No, that wasn't Helene. That was the Hoda news.'”