Hoda Kotb has one requirement for whoever replaces her on Today.
"The person who I want is someone who has beautiful chemistry with Jenna [Bush Hager]," Hoda exclusively told E! News guest correspondent Daryn Carp Oct. 25 at her Making Space wellness event at the Miraval Austin Resort and Spa in Texas. "That's all I want. Because it's never about either anchor, it's about what's between. So bring the chemistry." (Watch E! News tonight, Oct 29, at 11 p.m. for more of our exclusive interview with Hoda.)
"I don't care if it's her best friend, I don't care if it's someone she's worked with, if it's some celeb," the 60-year-old continued, "when she gets in sync, that's it. If she has chemistry, it will be beautiful."
While Hoda noted she doesn't really get a say in who takes over for her on the NBC morning news show, she's already encouraged her fourth hour co-anchor to be vocal in the casting process.
"I said Jenna, 'Feel who you want. Feel what feels right for you,'" the Making Space With Hoda Kotb podcast host recounted. "She'll know, because the only way it's going to work is if they got a vibe or not. Just the fun party vibe. It can't be forced."
Plus, Hoda shared a LOL-worthy lesson in humility for her yet-to-be-named successor.
"Look, you get to sit next to Savannah Guthrie," she noted, "here's what you're going to do: You're going to ride sidecar and say 'thank you very much,' OK?"
Since announcing in September she's departing Today in the coming months after nearly 17 years, Hoda called her final few months of co-hosting a "slow goodbye," adding, "It can almost be really grueling. It's sort of like a strange process, which I wasn't quite prepared for."
However, she already knows exactly how she'll be spending her free mornings when she finally doesn't have to wake up at 3 a.m. every weekday.
"I've found out, in my town, there's a 5:30 Soul Cycle class which, I'm going to start," Hoda—who is mom to daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, with ex Joel Schiffman—revealed. "I'm going to spend it with humans, then I'm going to go back and feed my kids breakfast and I am going to make a coffee to go in my Yeti. I'm going to walk my kids down the beautiful streets to their school and I'm going to kiss them goodbye."
Don't miss E! News tonight, Oct. 29, at 11 p.m. for more of our exclusive interview with Hoda. And 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)