Kathie Lee Gifford Says That Hoda Kotb Can Get ‘Whoever She Wants’ To Replace Gifford On ‘Today’

On Tuesday, Kathie Lee Gifford announced that she will be leaving the Today show, which she hosted for 11 years with Hoda Kotb. There is no replacement set to take over for Gifford just yet, but the talk show host assured Entertainment Tonight that Kotb will have a say in the matter.

“Whoever it is, it’s going to be the most blessed person on Earth,” Gifford said in an interview on Wednesday. “We don’t know if it’s going to be a woman or a man or anything in between…whoever Hoda wants, Hoda gets!”

Gifford insisted that Kotb can choose anyone she would like for the role, but Kotb, of course, said that no one will compare to her longtime talk show partner.

“No one can fill those shoes,” Kotb said of Gifford.

Although unconfirmed, Jenna Bush Hager has been said to be a possible candidate to replace Gifford on the fourth hour of NBC’s morning show, an earlier Inquisitr story reported. Hager already temporarily filled in for Gifford once when she traveled to Scotland for her film Love Me To Death. The journalist has also been filling in for other hours of the morning show since 2009 when she first stepped in for Carson Daly in the “Orange Room.”

“I feel so relieved… because I've known it was coming for a long, long time. You want to get your story out before somebody else tries to tell your story in an inaccurate way.” @kathielgifford talks about her major announcement yesterday – that she’s leaving TODAY in 2019. pic.twitter.com/PREDjHCZE0

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) December 12, 2018

“The likelihood of it going to her is high. She’s very well liked here,” a source said about Hager joining the team.

Gifford also revealed in her interview that she will take the month of January off to focus on other projects, including directing a film and working with Dolly Parton.

The news of Gifford’s departure came on Tuesday morning’s Today show when the host tearfully announced her final days on air. She talked about her friendship with Kotb and the happy memories from her days on set, but also said that she is looking forward to the future.

“It’s an exciting time for me and I’m thrilled about all the projects that are coming up, but it’s also hard because the reason that I stayed longer than a year is because I love everybody here so much,” Gifford said in her speech.

Although her decision to leave was hard, Gifford did admit that she was relieved to finally share the news, according to People.

“I’ve known it was coming for a long long time and you want to get your story out before somebody else tries to tell your story in an inaccurate way,” Gifford told her friends at Today.

Gifford will leave the Today show officially in April 2019, following her 11th anniversary.