The Today team was shocked when Hoda Kotb, 60, announced she'd be leaving the show in January 2025. But, while Jenna Bush Hager, 43, was surprised by her co-host's decision, she is grateful for how she protected her throughout the process.
"In the same way that I didn't envision myself working at the Today show, I never envisioned Hoda leaving," Jenna shared on the How She Does It podcast.
Jenna went on, saying: "I didn't ever have one inkling of a thought that she was about to say she was leaving. 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."
While the two spoke, Jenna said that Hoda told her: "'Don't sign your contract.'"
Hoda didn't extrapolate beyond that piece of advice, so Jenna "thought she was saying that" so their "contracts [would be linked up] and be there until the same time."
Jenna continued: "But what she was doing was protecting me, because she knew I was gonna be doing the show on my own."
Since Hoda left the show in January to spend more time with her daughters, Hope, seven, and Haley, four, Jenna has been "dating."
She has had 50 different celebrity guests over the last seven months to co-host the rebranded Jenna & Friends. Some fan favorites are fellow Today anchor Savannah Guthrie, Maria Shriver, Keke Palmer, and Olivia Munn.
While appearing on What What Happens Live, Hoda told Andy Cohen: "Justin Sylvester is amazing. Scarlett Johansson crushed it."
For her role in the choice, Jenna admitted: "We will eventually have a permanent host, I think, but we don't know. And 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."
Unlike in her personal life, Jenna isn't committed to any specific type when it comes to her future co-host.
"I'm not looking for anything, you know?," she explained on the podcast. "I'm just living in the moment with these people, many of whom I'm meeting for the first time. Which is crazy. I mean, and it is. It is a lot."
Off screen, Jenna is married to Henry Hager, 47.
"I remember our first kiss, I'm just gonna come out and say it," Jenna recalled during a recent Today episode. "It was to Lil' Troy, a song we can't say on TV. Lil' Troy was a rapper back in the day. We were dancing and all of a sudden, you shot your shot."
"I mean, well, I don't think you can say that on the 10 a.m. hour of television, but, I went in for the kiss," Henry responded.
The two have been together for 17 years and share children Mila, Poppy, and Hal.
"I feel really lucky to have met somebody that has given me three beautiful little babes," Jenna said on the show. Now, Jenna just needs to meet the perfect co-host.