Hoda Kotb breaks down in tears as Jamie Lee Curtis reads her note about Today show departure

Jamie Lee Curtis gave a proper send-off for Hoda Kotb during an appearance on the Today show.

While visiting the NBC studio on Thursday (December 12), the Oscar-winning actor revealed that she wrote and mailed a letter to Kotb back in September when she announced her departure from the network’s flagship morning show. The host admitted she had never received the letter, but instead held it up and asked Curtis to read it aloud.

“Can you read it because I’m not going to read it,” Kotb said, as she started to get emotional.

“It says, ‘Hoda, the long and winding road. Where you go, my hand in yours. Bravo,’” Curtis said, noting: “It was when you had announced that you were leaving.”

When the interview began, the Everything Everywhere All at Once actor immediately acknowledged that Kotb’s last day on Today was drawing closer. “Here’s how we’re going to begin: Say it ain’t so, Hoda,” Curtis said. “I can’t deal with it. I just can’t deal with it. I just cannot believe this is the last time I’m going to be here with you.”

The Halloween actor even explained her deliberate decision to wear a purple jacket because of what the color symbolized. “Purple is a wound, so I have a wound today with you,” she told Kotb.

Curtis continued to gush over the 60-year-old news anchor and how much she was going to miss her. “You are an absolute treasure, and we are all going to miss you here,” she said. “I can’t imagine this place without you.”

Kotb reciprocated the praise, specifically noting how much support Curtis has given to the women who work on the morning show program. “By the way, thank you for cheering on all the women, myself included, and Pamela and Margo and everybody,” the host told Curtis.

On September 26, the celebrated broadcast journalist announced she was departing the Today show. Kotb joined NBC in 1998 as a correspondent for Dateline. In 2007, she became co-host of the fourth hour of Today, which is now known as Today with Hoda and Jenna. Kotb and Savannah Guthrie have co-anchored Today since 2018, marking the show’s first all-female anchor team.

“I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60 and to try something new,” she said on the air. “I remembered standing outside looking at these beautiful bunch of people with these gorgeous signs, and I thought, ‘This is what the top of the wave feels like for me.’ And I thought it can’t get better, and I decided that this is the right time for me to kind of move on.”

At the time, she explained that part of her decision was so she would be able to spend time with her two children: daughters Haley, seven, and Hope, five. “Obviously, I had my kiddos late in life and I was thinking that they deserve a bigger piece of my time pie that I have,” she said. “I feel like we only have a finite amount of time.”

Kotb added: “And so, with all that being said, this is the hardest thing in the world.”

She will continue hosting the Today show alongside Guthrie through January 1, 2025. In November, it was announced that Craig Melville will take over Kotb’s duties starting on January 13. Melvin became a news anchor for Today in 2018 and co-host of Third Hour of Today the following year.