TV legend Hoda Kotb has spilled the beans on how her co-star Savannah Guthrie reacted to the news she was stepping down from her role on the Today Show.

The 60-year-old, who has co-anchored Today since 2007 and has worked as an NBC News correspondent since 1998, announced in late September she’s leaving the network after over two decades.

Hoda opened up about her decision during an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Wednesday, where she recalled how she broke the news to her Today colleague Savannah.

“I called Savannah, who was out of the country, and I said, ‘I have to tell you something,’” Hoda, whose Today replacement was confirmed last month, told host Seth.

“This sounds scary,” Savannah replied.

Hoda Kotb

Hoda during her Late Night with Seth Meyers appearance on Monday (Image: NBC)

Hoda then told Savannah: “‘It’s not. I’m going to be, you know, saying goodbye in January.’”

The anchor then revealed the surprising and brazen response her co-star gave her. “She (Savannah) said to me, ‘I’m going to tell you something right now.’ And I said, O’kay.’ She said — these are her words. She goes, ‘You got balls,’” Hoda said with a laugh.

According to Hoda, the former attorey then said: “I’m going to be sad for me and for our show later, but not today. Today’s the day that I say, wow, you’re doing it.”

Hoda also revealed how her Today Hour 4 co-host Jenna Bush Hager reacted.

 

Savannah and Hoda

 

Late Night with Seth Meyers

Hoda said that Jenna “did the exact opposite. She was like, ‘No, no, there is time. No, stop. Stop. Stop. Don’t say any more words.’”

She explained that after making the announcement live on the air, she was inundated with an “avalanche” of texts and phone calls, to which Seth joked that people would ask her to go to breakfast now.

The host’s quip prompted Hoda to admit that she will not miss getting up at 3 AM, though she will miss the NBC commissary.

She added that when her children Haley Jay and Hope Catherine come to visit, “the only thing they ask for is to go up to the ninth floor, the commissary.”

Her kids were ultimately the reason she decided to step away from the show, but she did confess that she’s been thinking about leaving “for a while.”

“I was wondering, like, when was the right time? And I thought all of us, like, have a time pie and you, kind of, have to decide how much of your time pie do your kids get and how much does your work get? And so I thought, you know, it’s time for my kids to get a bigger slice,’ Hoda shared