Jenna Bush Hager‘s vacation plans with Hoda Kotb making her emotional about her co-host’s impending arrival Today Departure.

The duo got into a discussion about party guest etiquette on the Tuesday, December 10, episode of Today with Hoda & Jennaat which Bush Hager, 43, said she was curious to see whether Kotb, 60, would make an early departure from an upcoming Christmas party attended on Sunday, Dec. 8.)

“I would like to videotape Hoda when she least expects it, which I’ll probably forget because I’ll leave my phone on the table and never look again,” Bush Hager explained. “But I just want to pay attention like an anthropologist, a social anthropologist.”

According to Bush Hager, she is in the “study phase” of losing Kotb. “I would like to examine your behavior tonight and see how you have changed,” she told her TV colleague.

Related: “Hoda Kotb’s ‘Hoda & Jenna’ Will Change Co-Hosts as Unnamed Replacement”

Nathan Congleton/NBC Hoda Kotb’s official replacement for Today With Hoda & Jenna has not been officially named. In addition to leading Today’s early newscast, Kotb, 60, also anchors the fourth hour with Jenna Bush Hager. However, Kotb will leave the broadcast channel in early 2025 and the show will reconfigure the Hoda (…)

Bush Hager’s comments touched Kotb, and the two women burst into tears on the radio. “What’s happening? Is this the stage of depression?” Bush Hager quipped, which made Kotb and the show’s off-camera crew laugh.

Bush Hager went on to hilariously recount the stages of grief she’s experienced so far while dealing with Kotb’s impending illness Today Exit. “The rejection took a good month. Anger was last week when I tried to make you jealous Gayle (King)“, she remarked. “I have negotiated with God virtually every night for the past few months. And now I’ve become depressed where she says something and (I cry).”

Bush Hager and Kotb shared many emotional moments together Today over the years, including Kotb’s September announcement that he was leaving the NBC morning show. Following their final show on January 10, 2025 Craig Melvin will take Kotb’s role as Savannah Guthrie‘s Coanchor. Hoda and Jenna will continue as Today with Jenna & Friends with Bush Hager and a number of guest hosts until a permanent replacement is selected.

“I come to you when I’m happy, when I’m unsure. You are who I come to, and you believed in me first,” Bush Hager told her longtime co-host on the Sept. 26 episode Hoda and Jenna. “We have a lot of bosses and I love them, but this lady on October 28, 2013 – I looked it up – said, ‘Hey, do you want to sit next to me?’ There’s room.’”

Related: Jenna Bush Hager says NBC banned her from saying “Y’all” on “Today.”

Although Jenna Bush Hager and Hoda Kotb were unapologetically themselves on the “Today” show, they had some difficulty getting there. “If you don’t fit in, they want you to wear something a certain way, cut your hair a certain way, talk a certain way,” explained Kotb, 60, while talking about how people shouldn’t change ( …)

Kotb returned the kind words, telling Bush Hager, “Whoever sits in this seat is going to have the easiest job in the world because they’re sitting next to you.” The only thing they have to do is not laugh so hard that they shit their pants. That’s it. You just have to hold on.”

Earlier this month, Bush Hager compared her feelings toward Kotbs Today Exit to feeling abandoned on her podcast “Open Book with Jenna.” “When everyone says, ‘Oh my God! “Congratulations,” it’s like, “I feel like I’ve been abandoned,” she admitted. “Not really, you know, because she makes her own decisions. I understand that. But my heart is a little broken.”

Your podcast guest Matt Rogers acknowledged her feelings by saying, “You can’t help but think about what it’s doing to you. “I mean, obviously that’s an amazing moment in someone’s life, but you’re human and it’s hard.”