Hoda Kotb is pondering Jenna Bush Hager i Sheinelle Jones continuing the fourth hour of today after his departure from the morning show.
“First of all, I’m honored to have been one of the administrators of this show. Honored. And I think what’s moving to me is that I saw Jenna as a kind of baby learn the ropes, and now, as a proud mother, I see her, number one, carry (the show) for a whole year. I saw her, and I was told very proudly, “61. people in an interview published on Sunday, January 18.
He continued, “And now, to see Jenna and Sheinelle have a place where the magic is rekindled, for me, is one of the most satisfying feelings.”
In 2024, Kotb announced he was leaving today after nearly 20 years on the morning show to spend more time with daughters Haley, 9, and Hope, 6, who she shares with her ex-fiancé. Joel Schiffman.
Hoda Kotb is set to cheer on Sheinelle Jones in her new role as Jenna Bush Hager’s co-host on the fourth hour of the Today show. “Ok. I’m crying – just saw @jennabhager & @sheinelle_o showing us what a match made in heaven looks like. So proud of both of you… #proudmom @jennaandfriends @todayshow,” Kotb, 61, wrote (…)
“I just turned 60, and it was such a monumental moment for me when I turned 60 because I started thinking about that decade, like, what does this decade mean? What does it hold? What will it hold for me?” Kotb tearfully announced on air in 2024. “And I realized it was time to turn the page at 60 and try something new.”
She continued, “I had my kids late in life, and I thought they deserve a bigger piece of my time, the pie that I have. I feel like we only have a finite amount of time. So with all that said, that’s the hardest thing in the world.”
After Kotb officially stepped down as fourth-hour cohost in 2025, Bush Hager, 44, continued a rotating lineup of guest hosts under the name Today with Jenna and her friends. Jones was announced as the official replacement nearly a year after Kotb’s departure.
“This marks an exciting new chapter for the fourth hour,” today executives said in a statement in December 2025. “Jenna and Sheinelle are two extraordinary talents who have grown within the ranks of today. They are loved for their authenticity, warmth and genuine connection with our audiences today.
Sheinelle Jones feels the presence of her late husband, Uche Ojeh, as she marks her first episode as Jenna Bush Hager’s Today co-host. “I wasn’t going to share this, but I shared it with Jenna and she has to make me share it with you,” Jones, 47, began during the Monday, January 12, episode (…)
Jones, who had previously taken a leave of absence from the show amid her late husband Ojeh’s mindPrivate battle with cancer marked his first episode Today with Jenna and Sheinelle earlier this month. (Oi he died at the age of 45 in 2025. The couple shared son Kayin, 16, and twins Clara and Uche, 13.)
Reflecting on her return to the NBC morning show after Ojeh’s death, Jones shared that she feared that I wouldn’t know how to smile.
“I was worried I wouldn’t know how to laugh,” Jones said Page Six in an interview published on Saturday, January 17. “I really love my job. And I said, ‘Oh my God, what if it’s not the same?’ Because I’ve never known this job without him.”