Hoda Kotb Tells Jenna Bush Hager She's 'Magic' as Today Show Co-Hosts Tearfully Discuss Hoda's Exit

Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager were teary-eyed as they kicked off Today with Hoda & Jenna minutes after the former announced her departure from Today.

The co-hosts were both wiping away tears as Kotb reiterated the reasoning behind her decision to leave early next year — "My daughters and my mom need and deserve a bigger slice of my time pie," she said — before reflecting on their five-year run on Today's 3rd hour.

Kotb, 60, told Bush Hager, 42, that their relationship is "one in a million," and her co-host became even more emotional as she thanked Kotb for her friendship.

"You are who I come to. You are who believed in me first," Bush Hager said. "On October 28, 2013 — I looked it up — you said, 'Hey, wanna come sit next to me? There's room.'"

"Looking at you and seeing magic was one of the easiest things," Kotb told her.

Bush Hager also joked that when she was first contemplating the offer to co-host the 3rd hour, she called her dad George W. Bush, who said to her, "Hoda's the star.... You're gonna be okay with that, right?"

Kotb used that as the perfect moment to pivot and celebrate that Bush Hager will be taking the helm after she leaves. "It's your turn," Kotb told her as she stood up and applauded. "Whoever sits in this seat is going to have the easiest job in the world because they're sitting next to you."

Kotb announced her decision to exit Today after 17 years in an emotional moment on Thursday morning. She sat on a couch alongside her colleagues Al Roker, Craig Melvin, Savannah Guthrie, Sheinelle Jones and Bush Hager and shared the news through tears as Guthrie, 52, and Bush Hager reassured her.

The news was first announced in a letter to the staff of the NBC morning show. "I know I’m making the right decision, but it’s a painful one. And you all are the reason why. They say two things can be right at the same time, and I’m feeling that so deeply right now. I love you and it’s time for me to leave the show," she wrote.

"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," she continued.

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Kotb will remain in her current role through the beginning of 2025, and will stay in the NBC family after that.

"Happily and gratefully, I plan to remain a part of the NBC family, the longest work relationship I’ve been lucky enough to hold close to my heart," she said in the letter. "I’ll be around. How could I not? Family is family and you all will always be a part of mine."