Jenna Bush Hager Reflects on Hoda Kotb’s ‘Today’ Absence: I ‘Depend’ on Her
10.03.2023 - 07:17
/ usmagazine.com
Her BFF! Jenna Bush Hager opened up about Hoda Kotb’s absence from the Today show following her daughter’s hospitalization — and the bond that’s been formed between the two co-anchors.
“Hoda makes my life full,” Hager, 41, told Entertainment Tonight in an interview published on Thursday, March 9. “And it’s so interesting, but you don’t really know until somebody’s kind of gone, unexpectedly, how much you depend on them.”
Hager, who has hosted Today With Hoda & Jenna alongside Kotb, 58, since 2008, told the outlet that she wrote a note to her longtime pal explaining how much their friendship means to her. “I don’t even know if you know, how much you impact my life,” she recalled writing to the Oklahoma native while tearing up.
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Kotb returned to Today on Monday, March 6, after a lengthy absence from the live tapings. The children’s book author revealed that her 3-year-old daughter, Hope, had been in the hospital. (Kotb shares Hope and daughter Haley Joy, 6, with ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman.)
“My youngest [daughter], Hope, was in the ICU for a few days and in the hospital for a little more than a week,” Kotb told cohost Savannah Guthrie at the time. “I’m so grateful she’s home. … I was waiting for that day to come. And we are watching her closely. I’m just so happy.”
While detailing her daughter’s recovery on Monday, Kotb recalled a sweet interaction she had with her little one. “The other day … she had in her hand two little confetti stars, and she said, ‘I got two, Mom. One for me and one for you,’” she recounted. “And I thought to myself, ‘Even when she’s not feeling good, she’s still giving everything away.’”
The This Just Speaks to Me author also reflected