Hoda Kotb cried as she continued to explain her shocking departure from the “Today” show with Jenna Bush Hager on Thursday morning.

“Saying goodbye to something that’s so amazing is hard,” Kotb said through tears on Thursday’s episode of “Today With Hoda and Jenna.”

Both Kotb and her fourth-hour co-host, Jenna Bush Hager, broke down in tears as they spoke about the emotional decision.

“It weighed on me. I was going back and forth and back and forth, and then I thought to myself, ‘You know, I think I need to pick this decade for myself,’” Kotb told Bush Hager, later admitting that she “knew” for a while that it was her time to leave.

Bush Hager was equally emotional, admitting that she initially told Kotb “No” when Kotb told her of her “bittersweet” decision “just a few days ago.”

“I said, ‘No! You can’t leave, because what we have here, with all these people?'” she said through tears. “It’s magical and powerful and it feels like it here, and you’re the one I come to when I’m feeling happy, when I’m feeling insecure, you’re the one I come to, and you believed in me first.”

Kotb admitted their time together was “one in a million,” but she’s ready to move into the next decade with more focus on her two adopted daughters, Haley and Hope.

“I also realized that this wave, this is the pinnacle for me, and of course I thought about my daughters, and when you have children later in life, you think about days and hours and minutes, and you think about walks to school and things like that, and I thought, I want my children to have more pieces of my pie,” Kotb explained.

The co-hosts also briefly discussed Kotb’s replacement for the fourth hour, with Kotb assuring Bush Hager that it was her “turn” and that “whoever is in this chair is going to have the easiest job in the world.”

Kotb, 60, tearfully announced she was leaving “Today” after more than five years as co-host, as well as “Today With Hoda and Jenna.”

“I realized that at 60 it was time to turn the page and try something new,” she said Thursday morning.

“I remember standing outside and looking at this beautiful group of people with these beautiful signs, and I thought, ‘This is what it feels like for me to be at the peak of the wave.’ And I thought, ‘It can’t get any better,’ and I decided this was the right time to move on.”

The journalist, who has adopted daughters Haley (7) and Hope (5) with her ex Joel Schiffman, said her daughters played a big role in her decision to step down from her role after they recently moved to the suburbs of New York City.

“I obviously didn’t have my children until later in life and I felt they deserved a bigger share of my time than I did,” she said.

“I feel like we only have a limited amount of time. And so, with all that said, this is the hardest thing in the world.”

Kotb will remain with Today through January 2025, but will continue to work at NBC in an undisclosed role.

The mother of two, who has worked at NBC News for nearly 30 years, also wrote a moving letter to her “Today” family revealing her departure.

“As I write this my heart is all over the map. I know I’m making the right decision, but it’s a painful one,” she wrote.

“And you all are the reason why. They say two things can be right at the same time, and I feel that so deeply right now. I love you all and it’s time for me to leave the show.”

Kotb then thanked some of her closest friends from the networks, including Al Roker, Savannah Guthrie and Bush Hager.

“Savannah: my rock. Jenna: my ride-or-die. Al: my longest friend on 30 Rock,” she wrote.

While Kotb said she will miss her team, she said her daughters and her mother “need and deserve a bigger piece of my time.”