Al Roker Speaks Out About Hoda Kotb ‘Today’ Exit News (Exclusive)

Al Roker has nothing but love for his long-time co-worker Hoda Kotb.

On Sept. 26, Kotb, 60, announced her departure from the Today show to focus on her family. While speaking with PEOPLE at the Food & Wine Classic in Charleston on Saturday, Sept. 28, Roker, 70, said his fellow anchor’s exit is bittersweet.

“Will I miss her day to day? Sure. But I’m just so thrilled for her that I can’t possibly feel any sadness,” he explains.

“Here’s the thing,” Roker continues. “I would feel much worse if she was leaving, but she’s just doing something else within our NBC News family.”

Kotb, who recently moved to a house in the suburbs with daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, 4, wrote a letter to NBC staff on Sept. 26. 

“As I write this, my heart is all over the map,” the journalist wrote. “I know I’m making the right decision, but it’s a painful one. And you all are the reason why. They say two things can be right at the same time, and I’m feeling that so deeply right now. I love you and it’s time for me to leave the show.”

Explaining her decision, Kotb added, “My broadcast career has been beyond meaningful, a new decade of my life lies ahead, and now my daughters and my mom need and deserve a bigger slice of my time pie. I will miss you all desperately, but I’m ready and excited.”

That same morning, Kotb addressed viewers on-air as she sat on a couch surrounded by her colleagues Roker, Craig Melvin, Savannah Guthrie, Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones.

Roker tells PEOPLE he understands Kotb’s desire to want to carve out more time for her family.

“Look, I’m very fortunate in that I’ve watched my kids grow up, especially when [my daughter] Courtney was younger. I was in local news, so I was home in the morning with my kids, but [Kotb’s] got two young daughters. Those moments, those kids grow up,” he says. “I mean, it’s cliché, but because it’s true. It’s like you blink.”

“So I understand exactly why she did it,” he adds of Kotb’s decision.

When Kotb shared her news on-air, Roker offered her some heartfelt words during the emotional segment.

“I have never known anyone like you,” he said. “I’ve known you forever.”

The mom of two then recalled that the moment she “got sick,” referring to her breast-cancer diagnosis in 2007, Roker was the first in line for support.

“I remember the first person who walked into my hospital room was you,” she said.

Kotb, who has been at NBC for 26 years, will stay in her current role until the beginning of 2025 and will remain on the network in some capacity.

“Happily and gratefully, I plan to remain a part of the NBC family, the longest work relationship I’ve been lucky enough to hold close to my heart,” she wrote in her letter. 

Alongside Savannah Guthrie, she is the co-anchor of NBC News’ Today and the co-host of Today‘s fourth hour alongside Jenna Bush Hager.

She and Guthrie, 52, made history as the first-ever pair of female co-hosts of the popular morning talk show.

Kotb was the first host of Today‘s fourth-hour broadcast at 10 a.m. in September 2007, and was joined by co-host Kathie Lee Gifford in April 2008. Hager became Kotb’s co-host in August 2019 following Gifford’s departure.

As for his thoughts on who should replace Kotb on Today, Roker tells PEOPLE he has “no idea.”

“But the great thing is the Today show is greater than the sum of its parts. And it’s always been,” he says. “From Dave Garroway in 1952 to Jane Pauley and Tom Brokaw, Bryant and Jane, Matt, Katie. You just go through the list of people and the show is the show, and we’re all passing through. Some of us are here a little longer than others, but so whoever they pick, it’s going to be good.”

The Food & Wine Classic in Charleston runs from Sept. 27-29.