Vanna White Reveals She Considered Leaving Wheel of Fortune with Pat Sajak: ‘A Very Hard Decision’ (Exclusive)

For more than four decades, viewers have seen Pat Sajak and Vanna White every time they tune in Wheel of Fortune.

However, in June, Sajak (76) announced that the current 44th season will be his last. White, 66, is slated to stay on through the 2025-26 season when new host Ryan Seacrest takes over.

Still, White tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue that she stopped thinking about her future on the show when Sajak announced her departure.

“Of course it’s a thought,” says White. “It’s like, ‘Well, wait, if you’re leaving, what am I going to do? How can I stay without you?’ It was very difficult for me to make a decision because it definitely crossed my mind. It’s like, ‘I just don’t know if I can do this without you,’ but I’ve thought about it and I’m not ready to retire, so I’m staying.”

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Still, White thinks “it will be different” when Seacrest, 48, takes over for Sajak.

“I know Ryan — he’s a professional, he’s good at what he does, he’s kind,” White says. “I think it will be good. He is such a nice guy and loves what he does. He said, ‘Look, I’m not going to replace Pat. I’m not going to go try to replace Pat. No one can ever replace him.’ He says he’s coming to do a good job and continue performing, and I’m looking forward to working with him.”

Vanna White photographed at her home in Beverly Hills, California.

Sami Drašin

For now, White wants to focus on celebrating Sajak’s final season — which he says will be bittersweet.

“We’re celebrating this year with Pat and all the good times, all 41 years, all the memories,” says the South Carolina native. “We’re going to do amazing things to say goodbye to Pat at the end of the season. We have almost a whole season to do that, just to look at all the great things we’ve done together. I’m so looking forward to it. It will be very sad.”

For more on Vanna White, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE on newsstands Friday or subscribe here.

White adds that she and Sajak “get along really well, so I’m going to miss her a lot.”

“I mean, I know everything about him,” she continues. “He knows everything about me. I can tell when he walks up the stairs. Our changing rooms are on the second floor. I hear his footsteps as he climbs the stairs, whether he will be in a good mood or not. Forty-one years together, you know each other so well. It’s definitely bittersweet, but he’s decided to retire and I have to accept that.”

Vanna White and Pat Sajak.

Ricky Middlesworth/ABC via Getty

Ryan Seacrest reacts to Vanna White’s contract for ‘Wheel of Fortune’: ‘I’m very happy to be able to work with her’

With more Wheel of Fortune episodes ahead, White calls “being on TV for so long and hopefully making people feel good” her biggest accomplishment so far.

“There’s so much negativity out there,” she says. “I feel like I just want to give people a good feeling and if everyone could be at peace and happy and kind to each other, that’s the proudest thing for me to be on TV, to try to spread that good feeling.”

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Wheel of Fortune airs weekdays at 7:00 PM ET on ABC.

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Source: HIS Education