For over half a decade, Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager have formed one of daytime television’s most beloved friendships. The co-anchors of NBC’s TODAY with Hoda & Jenna have gone through some of life’s biggest moments together, and cameras have been there to capture their beautiful bond grow over the years.

For instance, during the first year of co-hosting Hoda & Jenna together in 2019, they both welcomed new additions into their families. Kotb adopted her second child (daughter Hope) in April of that year, while Hager gave birth to her third child, son Hal, a few months later in August. They’ve been there for each other during difficult health obstacles and supported one another throughout their careers.

Very often, but especially as Kotb announced she’d be leaving TODAY on January 10, 2025, the co-hosts can’t help but gush and share their admiration for each other. Kotb has called Hager “my ride-or-die,” while Hager has described her friend as her “partner.”

As their iconic TODAY era comes to end, Kotb and Hager will ring in the new year together on NBC’s A Toast to 2024! on December 31, 2024, from 9 to 11 p.m. ET. The two will look back at the year’s biggest moments throughout the two-hour special that’s sure to be full of more laughs and tears.

Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager appear on TODAY with Hoda and Jenna on Monday November 1, 2021 Photo: Getty Images

Read on to take a look inside Kotb and Hager’s beautiful friendship, the many laughs they’ve shared, their secret symbol, and more.

Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager’s friendship has grown deeper as TODAY co-hosts

In April 2024, as the co-hosts celebrated their fifth anniversary of TODAY with Hoda & Jenna, Kotb and Hager reminisced about how their working relationship has grown into the beautiful friendship that it is today.

“We started off as colleagues/friends. We didn’t really know each other. Over the five years, there’s such a deep understanding of the other’s soul and purpose. We have traveled down these roads together,” Kotb shared. “A lot of times friendships don’t grow, you talk about the old days. Not ours. Like every day [there’s] something different, something new, something we’re learning.”

Hager added they’ve become so close over the years that talking about themselves as a “we” is just second nature. “We say ‘we’ for everything. I’ll tell mom friends, ‘We’re waiting ‘til 8th grade for phones.’ They’re like, ‘You and [Hager’s husband] Henry?’ I’m like, ‘No, Hoda and me,’” Hager said with a laugh. “But to have a ‘we’ is so profound at this stage in life. Everybody looks for a partner that will grow with them, and here we are.”

Kotb described her co-host as “my closest friend in adulthood that I didn’t know that I needed,” while Hager gushed that they “love each other.”

“We are really good friends, and so it makes work easy and natural and fun because I adore who I am next to,” Hager said, adding that “sitting next to [Kotb] every single day for the last five years has been the best, best privilege.”

Jenna Bush Hager teared up talking about how Hoda Kotb “believed” in her first

While Hager first joined the TODAY team in August 2009 as a correspondent and contributor, Kotb was the one who invited her to sit next to her during the talk show’s fourth hour.

“You believed in me first,” Hager said through tears just after Kotb announced her retirement in September 2024. “This lady, on October 28th, 2013, I looked it up, said, ‘Hey, wanna come sit next to me? There’s room.’”

“Looking at you and seeing magic was one of the easiest things I’ve ever seen in my life,” Kotb added.

Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager’s friendship has been full of laughs and on-air giggles

From recording a Christmas single together to talking about “girl code” or recapping their 2022 polar plunge, Kotb and Hager have kept each other laughing for years. Truly, during the December 27, 2024 episode, Kotb could barely hold it together as the two tested out a sandwich baggie hack and Hager questioned how sanitary it really was.

Hager previously told Hello! that they often find themselves giggling when they really shouldn’t. “I feel like Hoda and I laugh hysterically, we can get into that laughter where we’re not supposed to laugh,” Hager said. “That church laughter where we’re like ‘We’re going to get into trouble.’”

The two have even managed to find moments of laughter after Kotb’s retirement announcement. In October 2024, Hager joked that she feels like “the girl who just got dumped” as folks from all over have been congratulating Kotb on her next chapter. “People are like ‘You made the best choice, Hoda!’ And I’m like ‘Did she? Did she make the best choice?’” Hager said as Kotb bursted out in laughter.

Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager have a secret symbol

Ahead of the 2024 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Kotb revealed the secret symbol she’d later do just for Hager on TV as she co-hosted the event with TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie. And it’s a cute gesture the two do together whenever they see each other.

“Whenever I see Jenna, I go like this,” Kotb said as she bent her arms across her chest and pumped them back and forth.

The little move comes from Matt Rogers’ “RockaFellaCenta” music video featuring SNL’s Bowen Yang. In the song, Roger sings, “I wanna see Jenna Bush Hager come out the building because that’s where she works,” as Yang busts out the dance move.

“We do it together,” Hager added. “It’s sort of our call sign.”