What To Know
- Hoda Kotb reunited with Jenna Bush Hager as a guest host on Today, filling in for Sheinelle Jones.
- Kotb shared updates about her life, kids, and her co-parenting relationship with her ex-fiancé, Joel Schiffman.
- Kotb left Today in January 2025 to spend more time with her children but has returned several times over the past year.
Jenna Bush Hager kicked off her week of Today shows with a special on-screen reunion.
Sheinelle Jones was absent from the Monday, November 9, episode of Today With Jenna & Sheinelle. Filling in for her at the hosts’ desk was none other than Bush Hager’s former fourth hour of Today co-host, Hoda Kotb.
“Sheinelle is in L.A. She’s being honored at the EBONY Power 100 event,” Bush Hager explained as she and Kotb walked into Studio 1A. She added that being back on set with Kotb felt like no time had passed.
“I walked in here, and I saw you walk into my little dressing room, and it was like not a day had passed. That’s how life works, and it is true. Anybody who has a true, real friend knows this feeling,” Kotb gushed. “I used to think you had to see people daily, otherwise, what happens to a friendship. But a real friendship can be there in the middle of it.”
Kotb shared several life updates, noting that she enjoys her minivan life, and that her daughters, Haley and Hope, have begun to talk about crushes. Bush Hager also teased Kotb for not making her “homemade” Halloween costume with her ex-fiancé, Joel Schiffman.
“As the girls are getting older, having their dad there is much more important, I think, than ever,” Kotb shared, adding that her kids loved spotting Schiffman at their school Halloween parade. “When I was watching them say that, I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh. Come all the time. Be here as often as you can, ‘cause it matters.’”
NBC
Kotb joined NBC News in 1998 and became a member of the Today family in 2007 when she helped launch the fourth hour of Today with Natalie Morales and Ann Curry. She famously hosted the program with Kathie Lee Gifford from 2008 to 2019, after which Bush Hager took over Gifford’s role.
In September 2024, Kotb announced she would leave the NBC morning show to spend more time with her kids, whom she shares with Schiffman. “I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60 and to try something new,” she explained at the time.
Kotb added, “I had my kiddos late in life, and I was thinking that they deserve a bigger piece of my time pie that I have. I feel like we only have a finite amount of time.”
Kotb celebrated her final day on Today in January 2025. Craig Melvin took over her role as Savannah Guthrie‘s co-anchor, while Bush Hager went on to lead the fourth hour with a lineup of celebrity guest hosts, titled Today With Jenna & Friends. (Kotb guest-hosted Jenna & Friends in May 2025.)
Jones returned to Today in September 2025 after taking several months off in the wake of her husband Uche Ojeh‘s death that May. That December, it was announced that she would be joining the fourth hour of Today as Bush Hager’s permanent new co-host. Kotb and Gifford even stopped by Jones’ first day on the show in January.
Kotb has not been a stranger on Today since her exit. She has returned several times to share special stories and updates about her life and post-Today projects, such as her latest book, Jump & Find Joy, and her wellness company, Joy 101.
Earlier this year, Kotb returned to her former co-anchor role, filling in for Savannah amid her mother Nancy Guthrie‘s February disappearance. She also sat down with Savannah for the host’s first interview about the investigation in March. (Authorities have yet to name any suspects in the case.)
Today With Jenna & Sheinelle, Weekdays, 10 am, NBC
