Hoda Kotb is reflecting on Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones carrying on the fourth hour of Today after her departure from the morning show.
“First of all, I feel honored to have been one of the stewards of this show. Honored. And I think what is so touching to me is I watched Jenna as kind of a baby learn the ropes, and now, as a proud mom, I’m watching her, number one, carry [the show] for an entire year. I watched her, and I was so proud,” Kotb, 61, told People in an interview published on Sunday, January 18.
She continued, “And now, to watch Jenna and Sheinelle have a place where magic is reigniting again, to me, is one of the most satisfying feelings.”
In 2024, Kotb announced that she would be leaving Today after nearly 20 years on the morning show in order to spend more time with daughters Haley, 9, and Hope, 6, whom she shares with ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman.
“I just turned 60, and it was such a monumental moment for me when I turned 60 years old because I started thinking about that decade, like, what does that decade mean? What does it hold? What’s it gonna have for me?” Kotb tearfully announced on-air in 2024. “And I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60 and to try something new.”
She continued, “I had my kiddos late in life, and I was thinking they deserve a bigger piece of my time, the pie that I have. 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.”
After Kotb officially left her post as fourth hour cohost in 2025, Bush Hager, 44, continued with a rotating lineup of guest hosts under the name Today With Jenna & Friends. Jones was announced as the official replacement nearly one year after Kotb’s exit.
“This marks an exciting new chapter for the fourth hour,” Today executives said in a statement in December 2025. “Jenna and Sheinelle are two extraordinary talents who have grown within the ranks of Today. They are beloved for their authenticity, warmth and genuine connection with our Today audience.
Jones, who had previously taken a leave of absence from the show amid late husband Uche Ojeh’s private cancer battle, marked her first episode on Today With Jenna & Sheinelle earlier this month. (Ojeh died at age 45 in 2025. The couple shared son Kayin, 16, and twins Clara and Uche, 13.)
While reflecting on her return to the NBC morning show after Ojeh’s death, Jones shared that she feared she wouldn’t “know how to smile.”
“I worried that I wouldn’t know how to laugh,” Jones told Page Six in an interview published on Saturday, January 17. “I love my job so much. And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what if it’s not the same?’ Because I’ve never known this job without him.”
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