ENTERTAINMENTHow Hoda Kotb 'Protected' Jenna Bush Hager After Her 'Today' Show Exit: 'Don't Sign Your Contract'
Jenna Bush Hager admitted she didn’t understand Hoda Kotb’s 'Today' departure, but later realized her co-host had 'protected' her through the process.
Jenna Bush Hager admitted she didn’t initially understand Hoda Kotb’s Today show departure, but later realized her co-host had been quietly looking out for her the whole time.
“In the same way that I didn't envision myself working at the Today show, I never envisioned Hoda leaving,” Bush Hager, 43, explained during a podcast interview on Tuesday, July 8. “And in fact, she kept saying, ‘Don't sign your contract.’”
Jenna Bush Hager Didn't Understand Hoda Kotb's Advice
Jenna Bush Hager was confused why Hoda Kotb told her to not sign her contract.
Bush Hager initially struggled to process the advice until she realized the true intention behind her costar’s words.
“I thought she was saying that so we could link up our contracts and be there until the same time,” the talk show host recounted. “But what she was doing was protecting me, because she knew I was gonna be doing the show on my own."
Koda Kotb Made Exit Announcement in September 2024
Hoda Kotb announced she was leaving 'Today with Hoda & Jenna' in September 2024.
Bush Hager and Kotb, 60, co-hosted Today with Hoda & Jenna — which ran during the fourth hour of Today — from its April 2019 debut until Kotb’s final show on January 10, a run just shy of five years and nine months on-air together.
Bush Hager said she had “no inkling” that Kotb’s September 2024 announcement would be that she was leaving the morning show.
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Jenna Bush Hager Was Shocked by Hoda Kotb's Departure
Hoda Kotb stepped away to focus on a new wellness venture.
“I didn’t ever have one inkling of a thought that she was about to say she was leaving,” she explained. “I know she loved her work and loves her work, so leaving it wasn’t something I could wrap my mind around until I sat down with her and heard her reasoning.”
Kotb stepped away from the daytime broadcast to focus on her loved ones and devote her full attention to her new wellness venture, Joy 101. Since Kotb’s Today departure, Bush Hager has worked with over 50 different celebrity cohosts in hopes of finding a “permanent host,” humorously comparing the process to “dating.”
Jenna Bush Hager Compares Finding New 'Today' Host to 'Dating'
Jenna Bush Hager compares finding a new permanent host to dating.
“I’m Type A in a weird way. I'm not a perfectionist at all. But I also like planning. I like plans. I like to sort of know how things are gonna go," she said of her hosting style. "For my personality, this has been a challenge, and it's a great way just to live in the present. Like, 'We do not have a plan, and that does not scare me.'"
