Just moments after it was learned that Hoda Kotb will be stepping down from her co-anchor role at the Today Show, her colleagues huddled around her on the famous white couch.
As viewers watched on, Al Roker, Craig Melvin, Savannah Guthrie, Jenna Bush Hager, and Sheinelle Jones shared their well-wishes for their friend through tears.
“Hoda, we love you so much,” Guthrie wrote. “And when you look around and you see these tears, they’re love. You are so loved.”
“Honestly, I don’t think any of us can imagine, we don’t want to imagine this place without you,” Guthrie continued. “So it’s complicated because we love you so much, and we don’t want you to ever go.”
Guthrie shared how proud she is of her friend. “You have guts. For someone to leave at the top of their game, to leave something that’s wonderful, that you love. Where it’s easy and comfortable, and beautiful, and fun, and say, ‘But I dream even bigger for myself,’ into the great unknown. You have so much guts. You inspire me. I love you.”
As Kotb sat there holding Guthrie’s and Hager’s hands, Hager promised Kotb that it’s not over.
“I’m going to be showing up at your house,” Hager playfully threatened. “Like the stalker you are to Zac Brown. I can be there on your doorstep. And we are your friends, forever.”
Roker admitted that he has never known anyone like Kotb. “And I’ve known you forever,” he said.
Today first announced Kotb plans to leave the show in Jan. 2025 on Sept. 26.
The new outlet shared the letter the co-anchor shared with her colleagues announcing her departure.
Kotb wrote that she knows she’s “making the right decision,” and got clarity that she was ready to move on the day she celebrated her 60th birthday on the plaza.
“My sixtieth birthday celebration on the Plaza felt like a shift. Like a massive, joyful YES, you are,” she wrote.
“I saw it all so clearly: my broadcast career has been beyond meaningful, a new decade of my life lies ahead, and now my daughters and my mom need and deserve a bigger slice of my time pie. I will miss you all desperately, but I’m ready and excited.”
And while Kotb isn’t leaving NBC completely, hoping to stay around in some capacity, she wrote that her young daughter’s Haley Joy and Hope Catherine deserve more of her time.
“I will miss each and every one of you at TODAY desperately.”
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