Hoda Kotb is reflecting on Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones carrying on the fourth hour of Right this moment after her departure from the morning present.
“Initially, I really feel honored to have been one of many stewards of this present. Honored. And I feel what’s so touching to me is I watched Jenna as sort of a child study the ropes, and now, as a proud mother, I’m watching her, primary, carry [the show] for a complete 12 months. I watched her, and I used to be so proud,” Kotb, 61, advised Folks in an interview revealed on Sunday, January 18.
She continued, “And now, to look at Jenna and Sheinelle have a spot the place magic is reigniting once more, to me, is among the most satisfying emotions.”
In 2024, Kotb introduced that she could be leaving Right this moment after almost 20 years on the morning present as a way to spend extra time with daughters Haley, 9, and Hope, 6, whom she shares with ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman.
“I simply turned 60, and it was such a monumental second for me after I turned 60 years outdated as a result of I began enthusiastic about that decade, like, what does that decade imply? What does it maintain? What’s it gonna have for me?” Kotb tearfully introduced on-air in 2024. “And I noticed that it was time for me to show the web page at 60 and to attempt one thing new.”
She continued, “I had my kiddos late in life, and I used to be pondering they deserve a much bigger piece of my time, the pie that I’ve. I really feel like we solely have a finite period of time. And so, with all that being stated, that is the toughest factor on this planet.”
After Kotb formally left her put up as fourth hour cohost in 2025, Bush Hager, 44, continued with a rotating lineup of visitor hosts beneath the title Right this moment With Jenna & Buddies. Jones was introduced because the official substitute almost one 12 months after Kotb’s exit.
“This marks an thrilling new chapter for the fourth hour,” Right this moment executives stated in a press release in December 2025. “Jenna and Sheinelle are two extraordinary skills who’ve grown throughout the ranks of Right this moment. They’re beloved for his or her authenticity, heat and real reference to our Right this moment viewers.
Sheinelle Jones is feeling the presence of her late husband, Uche Ojeh, whereas marking her first episode as Jenna Bush Hager’s cohost on Right this moment. “I didn’t plan to share this, however I shared it with Jenna and she or he is having me share this with you,” Jones, 47, started throughout the Monday, January 12, episode […]
Jones, who had beforehand taken a depart of absence from the present amid late husband Uche Ojeh’s personal most cancers battle, marked her first episode on Right this moment With Jenna & Sheinelle earlier this month. (Ojeh died at age 45 in 2025. The couple shared son Kayin, 16, and twins Clara and Uche, 13.)
Whereas reflecting on her return to the NBC morning present after Ojeh’s dying, Jones shared that she feared she wouldn’t “know how one can smile.”
“I apprehensive that I wouldn’t know how one can snicker,” Jones advised Web page Six in an interview revealed on Saturday, January 17. “I really like my job a lot. And I used to be like, ‘Oh my gosh, what if it’s not the identical?’ As a result of I’ve by no means identified this job with out him.”
