Jenna Bush Hager Hilariously Rants About Hoda Kotb Feeling ‘Abandoned’

Jenna Bush Hager shares her feelings for her friend Hoda Kotb’s upcoming departure from TODAY.

On the October 25 episode of TODAY with Hoda and Jenna, Jenna hilariously said it was hard for her family to accept that Hoda was leaving TODAY to try something new in her life.

“If any of you have ever been in a relationship like this, where we’re like partners in everything—I mean, first of all, when I said my children Hoda was leaving, I might as well have said Dad was leaving because they were like, wait, what? Why? – she told the audience. “You know, they couldn’t understand it, but I understood it, although my heart was broken.”

Jenna explained that people stopped her on the street and told her she needed therapy to cope with Hoda leaving. Jenna then said she loves her co-host “so much” and supported Hoda pursuing her dream.

However, when she hears people congratulating Hoda on leaving TODAY, she says she can’t help but feel like the person who was abandoned in the relationship.

“I’m so proud of her. Although, I will say that I walk even here, and people say: “Congratulations, Hoda!” And I feel like a girl who just got dumped,” she said. “And people say, ‘You made the best choice, Hoda!’ And I was like, “Did she make the best choice?”

“But anyway, no, she did it and we will be a part of it in every way possible and we will miss her very much. But I’m so proud of you,” she said, “and I’m sorry for crying and saying no when you first told me.”

In the episode, Hoda revealed what’s ahead for her, saying she wants to “live in good health” after she leaves TODAY.

“I want to work in this space,” Hoda explained. “I want to start a business. There are things seeping inside of me that I hope will be fully formed soon.”

On September 26, Hoda announced that she is leaving TODAY early next year.

“At 60, I realized it was time to turn the page and try something new,” she said on air, adding that she plans to spend more time with her children.

“Obviously, I had kids later, and I thought they deserved a bigger piece of my time pie than I did,” she said. “I feel like we only have a limited amount of time.”