Kathie Lee Gifford has responded to Hoda Kotb’s shocking exit from the “Today” show.
Gifford, 71, took to X on Friday, to send love to her longtime friend and former morning show colleague.
“Bittersweet news as my dear friend @hodakotb steps away from the Today Show,” Gifford wrote.
“Her warmth, laughter, and incredible spirit have brightened our mornings and touched countless hearts. Here’s to new adventures!”
Gifford and Kotb, 60, co-hosted the fourth hour of “Today” from 2008 until Gifford’s departure in 2019.
Though no longer a permanent fixture on the show, Gifford still appears on the program from time to time.
She and Kotb have continued to be good friends.
Kotb’s decision to exit “Today” took viewers and her colleagues by surprise.
“I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new,” she said Thursday on “Today.”
“I remembered standing outside looking at these beautiful bunch of people with these gorgeous signs, and I thought, ‘This is what the top of the wave feels like for me.’ And I thought it can’t get better, and I decided that this is the right time for me to kind of move on.”
Kotb added that her move was motivated, in part, by her desire to spend more time with her two daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5.
“Obviously I had my kiddos late in life, and I was thinking that they deserve a bigger piece of my time pie that I have,” she shared. “I feel like we only have a finite amount of time. And so, with all that being said, this is the hardest thing in the world.”
“It’s kind of a big deal for me,” she admitted tearfully. “I’ve been practicing so I wouldn’t cry, but anyway, I did.”
Kotb will continue to host “Today” until early next year and stay at NBC in an unspecified role.
The beloved TV personality joined NBC in 1998 as a correspondent for “Dateline” and moved over to “Today” in 2008 to appear on the show’s fourth hour.
Kotb became an anchor on the first two hours of “Today” in January 2018 alongside Savannah Guthrie, replacing Matt Lauer after he was fired over allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct.
She has continued to co-host the fourth of “Today” with Jenna Bush Hager, 42, who came aboard as Kotb’s co-host after Gifford departed in 2019.
