CNN’s Abby Phillip Expresses Joy Over Hoda Kotb’s Decision to Leave Today: ‘Courageous and Brave’ (Exclusive) .Linh

Abby Phillip has nothing but praise and encouragement for Hoda Kotb.

At the 2024 Glamour Women of the Year Awards on Tuesday, Oct. 8, Philip discussed Kotb’s decision to exit the Today show after 17 years with the program and 25 years total working for NBC. Kotb, 60, made the difficult decision following a year of personal challenges, including a medical crisis involving her younger daughter Hope, 5, which the anchor declined to share out of privacy concerns.

“I totally felt that, and deep in my heart, I think so many of us did, because we sacrifice a lot to do these jobs, and they’re really important. And actually, they’re important for our kids to see that we are doing things out in the world,” Phillip tells PEOPLE. “But there is a time when it’s good to say, ‘I’ve done a lot, I’ve done good things, and it’s time for me to spend time with my family.’ “

“So I was so happy for her,” Phillip continues, adding that she felt Kotb was “so courageous and brave, I think in that moment to make that decision.”

“And everybody wants to spin it however they want to,” Philip adds. “But I think that on a personal level, as a mother, every mother understands what that moment feels like.”

Kotb shared in this week’s issue of PEOPLE that Hope’s medical situation had improved, having moved Hope and big sister, Hailey, 7, from their Upper West Side apartment in Manhattan to a home in Westchester.

“We’re in a place where Hope is thriving. She is improving, we’re watching her, and I think that as time goes on, we’ll have a better handle on it, but we’re already seeing great differences,” Kotb told . “We have really excellent care, I have people who are helping us out. I feel like she is finding steady footing.”

With Hope in Kindergarten and Hailey in second grade now, Kotb is acutely aware that time is flying.

“I knew that I wanted this decade to be different. I looked at my time like a pie,” she continued. “I was like, this is how much time I get, and now what am I going to do with it and how am I going to carve it up? And I wanted it to be filled with more of them.”

The veteran journalist also admitted a level of “guilt” contributed to the change.

“There’s the guilt you carry because you can’t be 100% at work and 100% at home,” she said. “Something has to give if you want excellence. If you’re going to be excellent at work, something has to give at home. And if you want to be excellent at home — I mean excellent and do all the things — something has to give at work. It can’t be equal.”