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Craig Melvin Asked Hoda Kotb If She Was ‘Sick’ After Learning of Her ‘Today’ Exit
New Today cohost Craig Melvin initially thought Hoda Kotb might be sick when she pulled him aside to tell him she was stepping down from the NBC morning show.
“My dressing room is two over from hers, and she knocks on my door one morning, which was unusual,” Craig, 45, recalled to Parade in an interview published on Friday, January 10. “And she’s like, ‘You have a moment?'”
“She came in, and she said, ‘I just wanted to tell you something. I’m leaving.’ And my initial reaction was, ‘Are you sick? Is everything okay?’ I was like, ‘Well, no one leaves these jobs on their own,'” he continued.
She said, “‘It’s time. I want to leave on top.’ I was like, ‘Are they forcing you out?’ She’s like, ‘No, Craig, I’m OK. I’m leaving.’ I was legit stunned, so much so that after she left, I went back to her dressing room, and I was like, ‘Are you sure you’re OK?’ It takes a certain kind of courage to leave anything when you’re at the height of your game,” Craig explained.
Savannah Guthrie, whom Hoda, 60, joined as cohost of Today in 2018, had a slightly different reaction.
“I was shocked and not shocked,” the Arizona native, 53, told the publication. “Hoda and I have talked for years about our dreams and part two of [our lives], and what it’s like to transition and be bold. I knew it was in her heart.”
“She is as popular as ever. She’s as good as it gets,” Savannah added. “And she’s saying, ‘No, I think I’ll go into the great unknown.’ And I find that so amazing.”
Hoda announced in September 2024 that she was departing the Today show after 17 years with the program. She joined the show’s fourth hour in 2007 alongside then-cohost Kathie Lee Gifford. Jenna Bush Hager took over in place of Kathie Lee, 71, in 2019 as she departed to pursue broader career opportunities.
“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,” Hoda said at the time. She adopted daughter Haley Joy in 2017 and added to her family again with the 2019 adoption of Hope Catherine.
As Hoda signed off for the final time at the end of Today With Hoda & Jenna on January 10, she read a letter to viewers.
“Sixteen years ago, I sat next to Kathie Lee, and she changed my life,” the Oklahoma native explained. “She chose me. And truth be told, I was scared. I had never done anything like this before. I was a hard-news person, a Dateline person, and then one day she called me ‘Hoda Woman.’ I ripped off that news corset. We poured ourselves a glass of wine. And so it began.”
“It went from ‘Hoda Woman’ to ‘Hoda Mama’ when Haley was born. I held Haley, and you held me. You supported me, the cards, the comments, the letters, I read them all, and then Hopey came too,” she continued.
“When I turned 60, you threw me one hell of a party. I reached the mountaintop so high on that day, I knew in that very moment there was no greater peak,” Hoda said in her letter. “And along the way, you invited me into your lives, your triumphs, your special moments and your celebrations. Having a front-row seat to all of this truly helped shape who I am. Thank you so much for letting me be part of your journey.”
She added, “I want to say thank you from the bottom of my very full heart for the ride of a lifetime. I love you.”
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