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Savannah Guthrie Teases Today's Future After Hoda Kotb's Departure

Today's Savannah Guthrie reacted to her longtime co-anchor Hoda Kotb announcing she's leaving the show next year and shared insight into the NBC morning show's future.

By Brett M Malec, Olivia Evans Oct 11, 2024 5:47 PMTags
Watch: Hoda Kotb Tearfully Announces She's Leaving the Today Show Early Next Year

Despite being heartbroken over the news that Hoda Kotb is leaving Today next year, Savannah Guthrie knows the show must go on.

"I think we’re so lucky because we do have such a great bench at NBC," Savannah exclusively told E! News at Project Healthy Minds' World Mental Health Day Gala in NYC Oct. 10. "We’re not just one person or two people. We’re a whole ensemble, a whole family. I feel really good that the show is solid and that we’re in great things."

But that doesn't mean she and remaining NBC morning news anchors Al RokerCraig Melvin, Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones won't miss Hoda and her eternally upbeat personality terribly.

"I think Hoda is irreplaceable," Savannah gushed of her longtime coworker and friend. "But I feel excited about the future."

Hoda shocked Today fans last month when she tearfully announced she will be departing the show in early 2025 during the Sept. 26 broadcast.

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Hoda Kotb Shares Update on 5-Year-Old Daughter Hope One Year After Health Scare

As for the reason behind her decision to leave after more than 16 years? Her daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, of course.

"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," the 60-year-old explained. "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."

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And while Hoda is taking time off to be with her family, Savannah revealed balances raising two kids and a demanding job by carving out small moments of self-care.

"It doesn’t have to be a big thing like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna go get a massage,'" the 52-year-old—who shares kids Vale, 10, and Charley, 7, with husband Michael Feldman—shared. "Sometimes we don’t have time to even do that. I honestly think it’s a deep breath. It’s sitting for a minute and just checking in with yourself like, ‘How do I feel right now? What’s in my heart? What’s on my mind?’"

"One little exercise can make such a huge difference," she added. "We don’t need to load up more anxiety on top of not handling our anxiety. So, I think, be gentle with ourselves, show ourselves some grace. That’s the first principle of self-care."

Keep reading for a closer look at the Today show's family album photos.

Sheinelle Jones

The cohost of the third hour of Today shares son Kayin as well as twins Uche and Clara with her late husband Uche Ojeh, who passed away in May 2025 after a courageous battle with brain cancer. 

“With all three of my children, I try to show them that they're ALL a team, and they have to take care of each other," Sheinelle wrote in a 2015 essay for Today. “At the same time, I'm learning that they each like to know they're special on their own."

Craig Melvin

Three years after the anchor married fellow broadcaster Lindsay Czarniak in 2011, he earned his most cherished title yet: father. 

And now, he seizes every opportunity to gush about their son Delano and daughter Sybil.

"When I wake up in the morning," Melvin said to his son during a May 2024 episode of Today, "part of the reason I work so hard is for you and your sister."

Jenna Bush Hager

The Today with Jenna & Friends cohost and her husband Henry Hager are proud parents to kids Mila, Poppy and Hal

As she put it during a March 2025 episode of the morning show, “I’m pretty sure I’ve come to terms that three, even though it’s an imperfect number, it’s the perfect number for our household."

Hoda Kotb

"Another Halloween in the books," wrote the former host as she celebrated the day with her daughter Haley Joy

She is also mom to daughter Hope Catherine.

Lester Holt

The former NBC Nightly News anchor shares sons Stefan Holt and Cameron Holt with his wife Carol Hagen

But more recently, he became a proud "granddude" to three grandchildren: Henry, Samuel and James.

“When my daughter-in-law was pregnant with her first baby ... she said, ‘Well, what do you guys want to be called?’" Holt said on The Kelly Clarkson Show in 2021. "I said, ‘I think I want to be ‘Granddude’ because ‘grand,’ it bows to the fact that I’m older. But ‘dude’ says, ‘I still got a little bit. I still got a little,’ you know?"

 

Carson Daly

In 2020, the anchor and his wife Siri Pinter welcomed their fourth child, Goldie. The little one joined the couple's older kids Jackson, Etta and London.

 

Kathie Lee

Hoda's former cohost is a loving mommy to her own two children, Cassidy Gifford and Cody Gifford, with her late husband Frank Gifford.

Savannah Guthrie

The TV personality is a mom to two little ones, Vale Guthrie Feldman and Charles "Charley" Max Feldman, with her husband Mike Feldman

Al Roker

The anchor and his wife Deborah Roberts are parents to Leila Roker and Nicholas Albert Roker.

Willie Geist

The anchor of Sunday Today has been married to his wife Christina Geist since 2003. They're parents to two children, George William Geist and Lucie Joy Geist.

(E! and Today are both part of the NBCUniversal family)

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