Jenna Bush Hager Says Hoda Kotb’s Today Exit Feels Like Being Dumped

Hoda Kotb’s upcoming Today exit is hitting Jenna Bush Hager right in the feels.

“To be totally honest, I was shocked, shocked,” Bush Hager, 43, admitted while chatting with Matt Rogers about Kotb’s departure on the Thursday, December 5, episode of her “Open Book with Jenna” podcast. “I mean, I was surprised.”

Bush Hager explained that Kotb, 60, broke the news to her Today With Hoda & Jenna co-host just one week before she announced her exit on the September 26 episode of Today. “This is why I admire her so much, is that she really listens to herself,” she gushed. “And therefore, she makes decisions which can feel surprising to others and just right for her. And now that I’ve had time to process it, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, I totally get it.’”

Despite accepting Kotb’s decision, Bush Hager admitted that she can’t help but feel sad about her soon-to-be former cohost leaving her side. “When everybody’s like, ‘Oh, my God! Congratulations,’ it’s like, ‘I feel like I’ve been dumped,’” she said. “Not really, you know, ‘cause she’s choosing herself. I get that. But my heart is broken a little.”

When Kotb announced her Today exit, she cited turning 60 and wanting to spend more time with her daughters — Haley, 7, and Hope — as her reasons for stepping down. She will make her final Today appearance on January 10, 2025, after which Craig Melvin will take over as Savannah Guthrie’s coanchor. Hoda & Jenna will continue to air as Today With Jenna & Friends and feature a steady stream of rotating guest hosts until Kotb’s permanent replacement is announced.

Rogers, 34, validated Bush Hager’s feelings on Thursday’s podcast, stating, “You can’t help but think about what it does to you. I mean, like, of course, this is an amazing moment in someone else’s life, but you’re a human being, and it’s hard.”

The No Good Deed star also said that he hopes Bush Hager finds her new cohost in her own time. “If you want the time to really sit with the decision and make sure it’s the right person, and you know, just if you want it to be you, and have that be months or however long it is, like, you’ve earned that, and you should give that to yourself.”

Bush Hager, for her part, is not sure “how long” it will be until her new cohost is chosen. Using another breakup analogy, she stated: “If somebody dumps you, breaks up with you, and you’re standing there like — maybe a one night stand is good? But you don’t want to jump into a serious thing. It’s a bad thing. So, right now, we’re just gonna date around — feel it out.”

Kotb is excited to see who follows in her Hoda & Jenna footsteps, telling Bush Hager on the show’s September 26 episode that it’s “your turn” to step in the spotlight. “And whoever sits in this seat, whoever sits in this seat, is going to have the easiest job in the world ‘cause they’re sitting next to you,” she continued. “The only thing they have to do is not laugh so hard they pee their pants. That’s it. They just have to hang on.”

Bush Hager praised Kotb earlier in the broadcast, telling the longtime NBC personality, “You’re who I come to when I’m feeling joyful, when I’m feeling unsure. You are who I come to and you believed in me first. We have a lot of bosses and I love them, but this lady, on October 28, 2013 — I looked it up — said, ‘Hey, wanna come sit next to me? There’s room.’”