Jenna Bush Hager’s Heart Was ‘Closed Off’ After Hoda Kotb’s ‘Today’ Exit originally appeared on Parade.
Jenna Bush Hager shut down emotionally after her Today show cohost Hoda Kotb left the program earlier this year.
Bush Hager, 43, explained to guest host Matt Rogers during the Friday, August 8, episode of Today With Jenna and Friends that she cries “all the time” because “I’m a Sagittarius.”
“I do it so often that it’s just like laughing,” she said. “They’re like, ‘Here Jenna goes again.’”
Despite her tendency to show her feelings, Bush Hager shared that she “stopped” crying so often after Kotb, 60, exited the Today show in January.
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“My heart was kind of closed off,” she added.
Kotb announced her plans to leave her Today show role in September 2024, with Bush Hager breaking down in tears on the air at the time.
“You’re who I come to when I’m feeling joyful, when I’m feeling unsure. You are who I come to and you believed in me first,” she gushed. “We have a lot of bosses and I love them, but this lady, on October 28, 2013 — I looked it up — said, ‘Hey, wanna come sit next to me? There’s room.’”
During Kotb’s final episode in January, Bush Hager once again cried while expressing her love for her cohost.
“Thank you, Hoda, for everything you have taught me, everything you’ve given me, all the hugs, all the heart, all the laughs, all the love,” she raved in a video message. “I will miss you, my friend, but I love you and I’m so proud. Love always and forever, Jenna.”
After 17 years, Kotb exited the Today show to spend more time with her family and pursue new ventures.
Bush Hager, who officially joined the series as Kotb’s cohost in 2019, continues to helm the fourth hour of the Today show, with a rotating lineup of guest hosts filling in since Kotb’s departure.
Jenna Bush Hager’s Heart Was ‘Closed Off’ After Hoda Kotb’s ‘Today’ Exit first appeared on Parade on Aug 8, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 8, 2025, where it first appeared.
