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Hoda Kotb<\/a> is opening up about her career in her new book, Jump and Find Joy: Embracing Change in Every Season of Life<\/em>, including her decision to leave the Today<\/em><\/a> show and her co-hosts\u2019 reactions to the news.<\/p>\n The long-time broadcast journalist joined Today<\/em> in 2007 as the fourth-hour co-host before becoming Savannah Guthrie<\/a>\u2018s co-anchor on the main Today<\/em> show in 2018. She announced her retirement in 2024, with her final broadcast airing on January 10, 2025.<\/p>\n In her book, Kotb reflected on the day she told her Today<\/em> co-workers of her decision, saying it was a \u201ccrazy mix of emotions,\u201d per Us Weekly<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew the words I was about to share were unexpected, and that my decision would affect a wide range of coworkers and their plans,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThe list of people I needed to tell was long, and the order in which I told them was important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Kotb revealed the first person she told was the executive vice president of Today<\/em> and NBC News,\u00a0Libby Leist. \u201cI told her that I was thinking a lot about this time in my life and about numbers and how I felt about the math,\u201d she explained. \u201c26 years at NBC News, 10 years at\u00a0Dateline<\/em>, 7 on the seven o\u2019clock hour, 16 on the ten o\u2019clock hour. And I just turned 60.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI told her that I knew I\u2019d have more financial security if I stayed at NBC, but that I had to think about my kids,\u201d she continued. \u201cWhen you wait so long for children \u2013 like I did \u2013 you don\u2019t want to miss your time with them.\u201d<\/p>\n On February 21, 2017, Kotb announced on\u00a0Today<\/em>\u00a0that she had adopted a baby girl named Haley Joy Kotb with her then-partner, Joel Schiffman. Then,\u00a0on April 16, 2019, Kotb appeared on\u00a0Today<\/em>\u00a0via phone to announce that they had adopted a second baby girl, named Hope Catherine Kotb. In January 2022, Kotb announced she and Schiffman had called off their engagement and were focused on co-parenting as friends.<\/p>\n The next person Kotb told about her exit was her co-anchor, Guthrie, who was overseas at the time attending a wedding. Kotb called Guthrie and shared the news with her. \u201cShe got very quiet,\u201d Kotb wrote, per Us Weekly<\/em>. \u201cThen she said, \u2018God, you\u2019ve got balls\u2026 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.’\u201d<\/p>\n Kotb then called her fourth-hour co-host Jenna Bush Hager<\/a> and executive producer Talia Parkinson-Jones into her office. Before she could even get the words out, Kotb remembered both Bush Hager and Parkinson-Jones shouting, \u201c\u2018No, no, no, no!’\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFinally, I managed to tell them that this would be my last contract,\u201d Kotb recalled. \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.’\u201d<\/p>\n Kotb also revealed how Parkinson-Jones asked her to stay for \u201cjust one more year,\u201d but she remained firm in her decision, telling her how she wanted to \u201cbe able to be there for my girls and do basic things like walk them to school.\u201d<\/p>\n The funniest reaction to the news came from Kotb\u2019s \u201clong-time buddy\u201d Al Roker<\/a>, who put the phone down on her.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said, \u2018OK, bye,\u2019 and hung up. He hung up on me!\u201d Kotb wrote. \u201cI thought, well, he sure got over that fast. But about five minutes later, he called back. \u2018I was just so shocked,\u2019 he explained, \u2018and I couldn\u2019t process what you were saying.’\u201d<\/p>\n