Hoda Kotb shocked the world as she announced she would be leaving Today in order to spend more time with her daughters, and now the veteran journalist is opening up about exactly how they reacted to the news.
© NBCThe mom-of-two went on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon where she discussed the major reaction to her shock exit from the show - and what she planned to do with her newfound freedom.
© @hodakotb"I've got a five and a seven year old, and I was telling them, 'you know mommy's going to be able to take you to school," she explained about Hope and Haley. "They go 'Wednesday?' I go, 'No honey, not Wednesday.'"
They gasped and asked if she might take them into school next week, and she said: "'No honey, not next week. Probably somewhere [in] January or February."
Apparently, her kids were shocked as they exclaimed: "'January?! February?!'"
Hoda, 60, added: "I might as well continue working forever. For them, it's like, to the end. But you just have a feeling when you watch them grow. They need a little more of me and I need more of them, so I think it's all going to work out beautifully."
© InstagramThe veteran anchor announced her exit on September 26 in a shocking moment on the show, surrounded by her colleagues. She explained that she had considered reaching the milestone age of 60 and having young children in her decision to leave the show after 26 years at NBC.
© Instagram"I just turned 60, and it was such a monumental moment for me when I turned 60 years old, because I started thinking about that decade like, what does that decade mean? What does it hold? What's it going to have for me? And I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60 and to try something new," she told her co-hosts.
"I had my kiddos late in life, and I was thinking that they deserve a bigger piece of the time pie that I have," she added. "I feel like we only have a finite amount of time."
© NBCAfter Hoda's shock announcement, people couldn't help but ask: Who is in line to take her highly-coveted spot next to Savannah Guthrie on Today?
According to Dylan Dreyer, who took herself out of the running, any of Today's usual cohort — Craig Melvin, Sheinelle Jones, Jenna Bush Hager, Carson Daly, or Weekend Today co-anchors Peter Alexander and Laura Jarrett, could easily fill Hoda's shoes.
"I don't think if they named anyone in our core group of people it would be surprising," she told E! News.
"We've all filled in along the way when somebody's out," she explained. "I don't know if anybody's made any decisions yet, but if it's one of the core group, I really don't think it's that surprising."
