{"id":41105,"date":"2025-09-24T18:01:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T18:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/41105\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T18:01:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T18:01:08","slug":"savannah-guthries-four-word-response-to-hoda-kotbs-today-show-exit-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/41105\/","title":{"rendered":"Savannah Guthrie’s four-word response to Hoda Kotb’s Today Show exit revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Savannah Guthrie made her feelings very clear when Hoda Kotb told her she was planning on quitting her role on the Today Show after 17 years co-hosting together\"SavannahSavannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb were colleagues for several years(Image: Getty Images for Joy 101)<\/p>\n

Savannah Guthrie gave a bold four-word response when she found out Hoda Kotb was leaving the Today show.<\/a><\/p>\n

The duo had worked together on Today<\/a> for several years, with Hoda being a mainstay of the hosting team from 2007 until she announced her departure in 2024. Now in her new book, Jump and Find Joy: Embracing Change in Every Season of Life, Hoda, 61, is opening up about her life as a broadcaster.<\/p>\n

Hoda started out working in local news before she joined NBC as a Dateline correspondent in 1998. After being diagnosed with breast cancer and battling to overcome the disease, Hoda then decided to go after what she wanted and pitched herself for the role of fourth-hour co-host<\/a> to work alongside Savannah.<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Jenna Bush Hager is avoiding weight loss drugs for one simple reason<\/a>READ MORE: Jenna Bush Hager breaks down on Today Show as she supports colleague Sheinelle Jones<\/a><\/p>\n

She recalled how she became overwhelmed with emotion as she spoke with NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Zucker, writing in her book, \u201c\u2018I want that job on the fourth hour of Today,\u2019 I said. \u2018I think I\u2019d be good at it. I know you see me a certain way, but I can do this, and\u2026\u2019 And then I started crying and I couldn\u2019t stop!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CraigCraig Melvin, Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb hosting Today(Image: Nathan Congleton\/NBC via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Hoda departed her role at the show earlier this year, and in her memoir recalls how she broke the news to Savannah that she was leaving. At the time, Savannah was overseas for a wedding, so Hoda had to call her rather than tell her in person.<\/p>\n

She explained, \u201cI reached her by phone and then waited as she tried to find a private place to talk. When I was done sharing my news, she got very quiet. Then she said, \u2018God, you\u2019ve got balls,\u2019 I laughed.<\/p>\n

“\u2018You\u2019ve got courage,\u2019 she continued. \u2018I\u2019ll mourn for me and our show later, but right now, I\u2019m just marveling at this whole thing. You\u2019re leaving something that\u2019s like gold in your hands, not because you don\u2019t love it anymore, not because you\u2019re tired of it; you\u2019re just deciding. And that kind of leaving is really something to marvel at.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoda also described the moment she shared her news with Jenna Bush Hager and executive producer Talia Parkinson-Jones, as they met in her office and sat on the couch.<\/p>\n

\"JennaJenna Bush Hager attending Hoda’s Joy 101 Launch Event<\/p>\n

She shared, \u201cThen, I began, \u2018I have to tell you something\u2026\u2019 but before I could get another word out, they both shouted, \u2018No, no, no, no!\u2019 I kept trying to speak, but they wouldn\u2019t let me, saying that word over and over. Finally, I managed to tell them that this would be my last contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cJenna started crying, saying through tears, \u2018I only did this because I\u2019m with you. You chose me, and we chose us, and now it\u2019s us. This is our show.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoda described how Talia tried to encourage her to stay for \u201cjust one more year,\u201d but she couldn’t, as she wanted to \u201cbe able to be there for my girls and do basic things like walk them to school.\u201d<\/p>\n

She continued, \u201cThat\u2019s when Jenna jumped in to say she could make that work. She was sure if I stayed on, it could be arranged for me to walk them to school one time. One time! We laughed at that. I knew their reactions were coming from a place of such kindness and love.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the latest local news and features on Irish America, visit our homepage here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Savannah Guthrie made her feelings very clear when Hoda Kotb told her she was planning on quitting her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,12739,37042,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-41105","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-savannah-guthrie","13":"tag-today-show","14":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}