Hoda Kotb is back on the Today show! For a limited time, that is.
Kotb, who left the show in January in order to spend more time with her family, returned to Studio 1A at 30 Rockefeller Center on Tuesday for a one-time visit. She was there on official business of highlighting an award-winning New York City gym teacher, but spent time with her former Today colleagues as well.
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Kotb’s segment honored gym teacher Reyes Andon, who won the 2025 NYCPS Big Apple Physical Education Award for having his students take a hands-on approach during class. Kotb surprised Andon and his students with a check and physical education supplies live on the 30 Rockefeller Center plaza.
After the segment, Kotb told her former co-hosts about her new lifestyle away from morning TV.
“Everything’s great,” she said. “My kids are in 3rd grade and 1st grade. I now wake up at 5:30. I feel really good. My little business is doing its thing. I’ve got a new book. It’s just a different life, but it’s funny how easily you can find yourself starting something new.”
“I mean, I miss you guys like crazy,” she said to her colleagues. “I miss everybody. Being here made my heart hurt a little bit.”
Jenna Bush Hager and Savannah Guthrie reminded Kotb that she was welcome to return anytime — especially in a more permanent capacity.
“Well, you can always come back,” Bush Hager said.
“Jenna’s still searching for friends!” Guthrie pointed out, referencing Bush Hager’s months-long quest to fill Kotb’s seat on the show’s fourth hour, Today With Jenna & Friends.
Kotb played it mum on whether she’d ever return to Today full-time, but did praise Bush Hager for taking on the fourth hour by herself. “It’s been going really, really wee,” she gushed, to which Bush Hager joked, “You pretend you’ve been watching.”
Kotb said she’s been busy with her two daughters, Haley, 8, and Hope, 6. “They love school. We have our new puppy,” she said. “So, our life has started this rhythm where I walk the girls to school, then I walk to my office. I have an office in my town. Building a business is hard. I had no idea [about] all this stuff, but it’s been so fun [and] challenging.”
Since her exit from Today, Kotb has been running her new wellness brand, Joy 101. She previously described it as a community that’s like “a retreat in your pocket.” She teased that there will be a major single-day tentpole event called Joy Fest in the spring of 2026 with various speakers.
Kotb also took a moment later in the broadcast on Tuesday to give Sheinelle Jones a hug and offering support in the wake of her husband Uche Ojeh’s death.
“She’s changing lives just by being exactly who she is,” Kotb said of Jones.
“Three of my friends called immediately after you guys were talking and said that they felt forever changed after listening to that conversation,” she said, referring to Jones’ interview with Guthrie about Ojeh’s passing from cancer. “So, I was saying, ‘You don’t have to make any effort. You just be, and you’re doing what you’re doing.’ So anyway, I love you.”
Kotb continued her walk down memory lane during Tuesday’s episode of Jenna & Friends, where she joined Bush Hager and guest host Nikki Glaser, but only time will tell if she ever returns to the desk full-time.
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