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Hoda Kotb’s co-workers will be family for life.
After announcing that she is stepping away from “Today” after nearly two decades, the 60-year-old’s co-workers shared their sentiments for the longtime anchor.
“Hoda, we love you so much,” Savannah Guthrie said on “Today” as she and Jenna Bush Hager took Kotb’s hands in theirs.
“And when you look around and you see these tears, they’re love. You are so loved,” she continued. “And honestly, I don’t think any of us can imagine — we don’t want to imagine this place without you.”
Holding back tears, the 52-year-old went on, “So, it’s complicated because we love you so much, and we don’t want you to ever go.”
Despite Guthrie’s –– who co-anchors the first two hours of the news show with Kotb –– immense sadness, she is also in awe of her close friend for making such a hard decision.
“But also, I just wanna say I am so proud of my friend. You have guts,” she said. “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 in the great unknown.’ You have so much guts. You inspire me, I love you.”
Bush Hager –– who co-hosts “Today With Hoda and Jenna” with the journalist –– took a moment to joke that it’s “not over,” because she’s going to be “showing up” at her house “like the stalker.”
“We are your friends forever,” the 43-year-old added.
Weatherman Al Roker became emotional and simply said, “I have never known anyone like you, and I’ve known you forever, and I love you.”
Rounding out the sweet sentiments included Sheinelle Jones, the co-host of the third hour of the broadcast show, who chimed in to tell viewers that the entire group is a “family.”
“Hoda has a relationship with every single person on this couch in her own way, so I think we’re all just kind of wrestling with it inside, but we also know what a dynamic mom you are and presence you are and your whole movement with wellness, you are going to change the world, and we know it, so we’re still here,” the 46-year-old said.
Kotb’s coworkers and the crew gave her a standing ovation after her announcement as she hugged each of them in the studio.
Guthrie also took to social media, posting an Instagram reel from the morning broadcast.
“Oh, Hoda. All the tears for you,” she captioned her post. “For love and joy and above all, gratitude for this beautiful soul, who has light, warmth, goodness and faith – in abundance. I love you with all my heart, dearest Hoda. We will always be by each other’s side.”
Kotb revealed her shocking decision to step away early Thursday.
“I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new,” she said through tears. “I remembered standing outside looking at these beautiful bunch of people with these gorgeous signs, and I thought, ‘This is what the top of the wave feels like for me.’ And I thought it can’t get better, and I decided that this is the right time for me to kind of move on.”
Kotb, who is mom to daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, added that this pivot is meant to help her focus on her family more.
“Obviously I had my kiddos late in life, and I was thinking that they deserve a bigger piece of my time pie that I have,” she continued. “I feel like we only have a finite amount of time. And so, with all that being said, this is the hardest thing in the world.”
Kotb started in 2007 as a host of “Today’s” first fourth-hour weekday morning, and she reflected on her decades-long career with the network in an emotional letter.
“My time at NBC has been the longest professional love affair of my life,” she penned in a note published by “Today” Thursday. “But only because you’ve been beside me on this twenty-six-year adventure. Looking back, the math is nuts. 26 years at NBC News — Ten years at ‘Dateline,’ seven on the seven o’clock hour, sixteen on the ten o’clock hour.”
“I’m picturing your faces and your families and all the ways you’ve lifted me up and inspired me,” she noted. “That’s my heart singing. So many of my professional relationships have become some of my most cherished friendships.”
As Hoda explained, though she’s been thinking of the move “for a while,” she realized she’s truly ready for a change in her life.
“My sixtieth birthday celebration on the Plaza felt like a shift,” Kotb concluded. “Like a massive, joyful YES, you are! 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.”