Jenna Bush Hager Tearfully Admits She Had A “Crazy” First Reaction To Learning Hoda Kotb’s Leaving ‘Today’: “Is There Snot Everywhere?”

Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager shared an emotional moment together during the fourth hour of Today after Kotb announced that she will be leaving NBC within the next year.

The Today hosts could not hold back their tears as they reflected on their five years working together. Bush Hager had to reach for the tissues as she revealed Kotb only shared her decision with her “just a few days ago.”

“When she told me, my first reaction, it was from my gut. It was almost crazy,” she said, before jokingly adding, “Y’all know I cry, like somebody spills coffee and there I am.”

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She somberly continued, “I said ‘No, you can’t leave.’ Because what we have here with all of these people… What’s between us is magical and powerful and it feels like that here.”

She reflected on the close friendship they built over the years, noting that Kotb was the one who “believed in me first.”

“You’re who I come to when I’m feeling joyful, when I’m feeling unsure, you are who I come to,” she told her co-host.

The touching moment continued as Kotb told Bush Hager, “Looking at you and seeing magic was one of the easiest things I’ve ever seen in my life.” She then encouraged Bush Hager to share a story about her father, former U.S. President George W. Bush, from when she first started working with Kotb on Today .

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Bush Hager revealed that she called her father when she first got the job on Today With Hoda & Jenna and he had one warning for her. “He said, ‘I’m so happy for you and Hoda’s the star, you’re gonna be okay with that, right? You’re gonna be okay sharing the spotlight with the star?'” she recalled with a laugh. “And I said, ‘Yeah, of course.'”

She then explained that she called him just last night to share the news of Kotb’s exit. “First he thought something really awful [happened], like a lost loved one, because of how emotional I was. And then he said, ‘Oh, she’s leaving cause it’s time and you’re gonna be fine. It’s your turn. It’s okay.'”

Kotb stood up and gave her co-host a round of applause with the Today crew, who were all behind the camera commemorating the moment with the hosts.

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“It’s your turn,” Kotb said as she became choked up. “It’s your turn. And whoever sits in this seat is gonna have the easiest job in the world because they’re sitting next to you! … You are the bright light, you always have been.”

“If I’m bright it’s because I’m sitting in you glow,” Bush Hager replied. She then turned to the Today crew and asked, “Is there snot everywhere?”

Kotb admitted that the decision “weighed a lot” on her after her 60th birthday, especially because she would be saying goodbye to the “amazing” thing she and Bush Hager built together.

“Saying goodbye to something that’s not working something thats tired something you don’t want, that’s easy,” she told Bush Hager through tears. “But saying goodbye to something that’s amazing is hard.”

Kotb is currently slated to stay on The Today Show and Today With Hoda & Jenna through 2024 and into the beginning of 2025. Her exit from the franchise means NBC will be looking for a new daytime star to fill the two major roles she’s leaving behind.

But her statement notes she will “remain part of the NBC family” after her retirement.

Today with Hoda & Jenna airs on weekdays at 10/9c on NBC.

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