Hoda Kotb is back in Studio 1A.
Four months after the anchor left her long-running gig at Today, she had a touching reunion with her former fourth hour co-host, Jenna Bush Hager, on the NBC morning news show.
“Jenna Bush Hager, you have been literally crushing it since January 12,” Hoda, 60, said during the May 28 episode, referring to her last day on the show. “I’ve been watching you every single day. You’ve been incredible, so I hope you’re proud of yourself.”
And fittingly, the duo reflected on their time apart. In fact, Jenna noted that Hoda’s brief return reminded her of the power of “true friendship and real love.”
“I know so many people have this with their college friends, where you come back and it’s like we haven’t even spent a day apart,” the 43-year-old explained, visibly emotional. “I miss you and I’m so happy for you.”
Hoda—mom to Haley Kotb, 9, and Hope Kotb, 5, with ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman—then revealed the special project she’s been working on since she left the Today desk: her new wellness platform, Joy 101. Specifically, she noted the app was inspired by a breathing session she did with a specialist, which Jenna referred her to after she noticed she was stressed.
“I exploded in tears and was transformed,” Hoda recalled of that session. “This breathwork led to meditation and deep prayer—all the things that we love were all in one spot. But I realized there’s something here, so I was thinking, ‘Where can I put all this stuff together and share it? Let’s make something.’”
This isn’t Hoda’s first time reuniting with her former team, as she made a surprise appearance during the third hour of Today’s Feb. 28 episode. As meteorologist Al Roker finished his Mardi Gras segment, he announced that a “very special person” was on the docket to give her expertise on the holiday. After all, she lived in New Orleans at the beginning of her career.
“Hey guys, wait a minute, are you in my city? Without me?” Hoda said after her video message appeared on the screen. “Enjoy what I believe is the best city on earth. Y’all have so much without me, happy Mardi Gras!”
Hoda announced her tearful exit from Today last September, noting she wanted to focus on her family.
“I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new,” she revealed at the time. “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.’ I thought it can’t get better, and I decided that this is the right time for me to kind of move on.”
Keep reading to see more of the Today family…
(E! and Today are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
Sheinelle Jones
The cohost of the third hour of Today shares son Kayin as well as twins Uche and Clara with her late husband Uche Ojeh, who passed away in May 2025 after a courageous battle with brain cancer.
“With all three of my children, I try to show them that they’re ALL a team, and they have to take care of each other,” Sheinelle wrote in a 2015 essay for Today. “At the same time, I’m learning that they each like to know they’re special on their own.”
Craig Melvin
Three years after the anchor married fellow broadcaster Lindsay Czarniak in 2011, he earned his most cherished title yet: father.
And now, he seizes every opportunity to gush about their son Delano and daughter Sybil.
“When I wake up in the morning,” Melvin said to his son during a May 2024 episode of Today, “part of the reason I work so hard is for you and your sister.”
Jenna Bush Hager
The Today with Jenna & Friends cohost and her husband Henry Hager are proud parents to kids Mila, Poppy and Hal.
As she put it during a March 2025 episode of the morning show, “I’m pretty sure I’ve come to terms that three, even though it’s an imperfect number, it’s the perfect number for our household.”
Hoda Kotb
“Another Halloween in the books,” wrote the former host as she celebrated the day with her daughter Haley Joy.
She is also mom to daughter Hope Catherine.
Lester Holt
The former NBC Nightly News anchor shares sons Stefan Holt and Cameron Holt with his wife Carol Hagen.
But more recently, he became a proud “granddude” to three grandchildren: Henry, Samuel and James.
“When my daughter-in-law was pregnant with her first baby … she said, ‘Well, what do you guys want to be called?’” Holt said on The Kelly Clarkson Show in 2021. “I said, ‘I think I want to be ‘Granddude’ because ‘grand,’ it bows to the fact that I’m older. But ‘dude’ says, ‘I still got a little bit. I still got a little,’ you know?”
Carson Daly
In 2020, the anchor and his wife Siri Pinter welcomed their fourth child, Goldie. The little one joined the couple’s older kids Jackson, Etta and London.
Kathie Lee
Hoda’s former cohost is a loving mommy to her own two children, Cassidy Gifford and Cody Gifford, with her late husband Frank Gifford.
Savannah Guthrie
The TV personality is a mom to two little ones, Vale Guthrie Feldman and Charles “Charley” Max Feldman, with her husband Mike Feldman.
Al Roker
The anchor and his wife Deborah Roberts are parents to Leila Roker and Nicholas Albert Roker.
Willie Geist
The anchor of Sunday Today has been married to his wife Christina Geist since 2003. They’re parents to two children, George William Geist and Lucie Joy Geist.
