Hoda Kotb is definitely keeping tabs on her Today family.
In fact, her former fourth hour co-host Jenna Bush Hager revealed she still gets constructive criticism from Hoda, who left the NBC morning news show earlier this year.
“She’s giving feedback,” Jenna exclusively told E! News in a joint interview with twin sister Barbara Bush. “She’s so supportive. You all know Hoda, she’s like the most supportive, amazing force. But she definitely is like, ‘Okay, that was great’ or ‘this is great.’ She definitely has opinions, which I love. I care about what she thinks.” (Watch E! News tonight, March 27, at 11 p.m. for more exclusive scoop from the Bush twins.)
Now that several months have passed since Hoda’s departure, Jenna has better perspective on the journalist’s decision to spend more time with daughters Haley, 9, Hope, 5.
“It was a really good lesson in saying goodbye because I was so sad,” the former First Daughter—who is mom to kids Mila, 11, Poppy, 9, and Hal, 5, with husband Henry Chase Hager—admitted. “It was almost unthinkable that she wouldn’t be here.”
Since Hoda signed off from the news desk in January after 17 years at Today, Jenna has welcomed an impressive roster of celebrity guest hosts during her Jenna & Friends fourth hour.
“It’s been three months, which I cannot believe,” the 43-year-old reflected. “I’ve sat next to now 21 different people and it’s been a really fun journey. It’s brought our team really close together. I’m obsessed with everybody I work with and I really love where I work. So, it’s kind of a lesson in making sure you tell the people you love you love them.”
As for who has been the best interim replacement for Hoda, Barbara chimed in, “I loved Dwyane Wade before and then he was excellent. He and sissy had a great dynamic.”
Jenna echoed her twin, “I would say I agree with Barbara. Dwyane was so much fun and kind of unexpected. Dwyane was so much fun. He’s really soulful and super curious. I was kind of surprised by how much fun we had together. I also love Scarlett Johansson.”
Barbara even co-hosted with her sister to promote their new illustrated book I Love You First.
As Barbara—who shares 3-year-old daughter Cora and 6-month-old son Edward with husband Craig Coyne—shared of their latest literary project, “It’s about our love and parents’ love for their children to begin with. That we love the idea our kids going to bed and hearing how much we love them and how much they have opened our world.”
Don’t miss E! News tonight, March 27, at 11 p.m. for more of our exclusive sit-down with the Bush twins.
I Loved You First is out now wherever books are sold.
And keep reading to see the Today show family over the years.
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.
(E! and Today are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
