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Vanna White says leaving Wheel of Fortune with Pat Sajak crossed her mind: 'How can I stay without you?'

"It's like, ‘Well, wait, if you're leaving, what am I going to do?'"

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Published on October 11, 2023 12:05PM EDT

Vanna White says she considered leaving Wheel of Fortune with her costar Pat Sajak after he announced his retirement earlier this year.

"Of course it's a thought. It's like, 'Well, wait, if you're leaving, what am I going to do? How can I stay without you?'" White said in the latest issue of PEOPLE. "It was a very hard decision for me to make, because it definitely crossed my mind. It's like, 'I just don't know if I can do this without you,' but I thought about it and I'm not ready to retire, so I am staying on."

White, who ultimately agreed to extend her contract on the game show, did admit that "it will be different" working with Ryan Seacrest after he replaces Sajak next fall. Still, she has high hopes.

Vanna White and Pat Sajak. Ricky Middlesworth/ABC via Getty Images

"I know Ryan — he is professional, he's good at what he does, he's kind," she explained. "I think it's going to be good. He's such a nice guy and he loves what he does. He said, 'Look, I am not replacing Pat. I'm not going in to try to fill Pat's shoes. No one can ever replace him.' He says he's coming in to do a good job and to keep the show going, and I'm looking forward to working with him."

White also teased that the series is making sure Sajak goes out in style. "We are celebrating this year with Pat and all the good times, all the 41 years, all the memories," she said. "We are going to be doing some incredible stuff to say goodbye to Pat at the end of the season. We have almost a whole season to do that, to just look at all the great things that we've done together. I'm so looking forward to that. It's going to be very sad."

White, who has solved puzzles with Sajak for more than four decades, added that she is "so going to miss him" when he officially exits the show.

"I mean, I know everything about him," she said. "He knows everything about me. I can tell when he's walking up the stairs. Our dressing rooms are on the second floor. I can hear in his footsteps when he is walking up the steps, if he's going to be in a good mood or not. Forty-one years together, you know each other so well. It definitely is bittersweet, but he's decided to retire and I have to accept that."

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Vanna White says leaving Wheel of Fortune with Pat Sajak crossed her mind: 'How can I stay without you?'

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