This is BFF! Jenna Bush Hager opened about Hoda Kotb absent from Today shows after her daughter’s hospitalization – and the bond that has formed between the two anchors.
“Hoda makes my life full,” Hager, 41, said Entertainment Tonight in an interview published on Thursday, March 9. “And it’s interesting, but you don’t realize until someone’s gone, by accident, how dependent you are on them.”
Hager, who has been the host Today with Hoda & Jenna Kajawi Kotb, 58, has been dating since 2008, telling the outlet that he wrote a note to a longtime friend explaining how their friendship was going. “I don’t even know if you know how much of an impact you have had on my life,” she recalled writing to the Oklahoma native through tears.
Kotb returns to The Day on Monday, March 6, after a long absence from live recordings. The children’s book author revealed that her 3-year-old daughter, Hope, is in the hospital. (Kotb shared Hope and daughter Haley Joy, 6, with her ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman.)
“I’m the youngest [daughter]Hope, was in the ICU for a few days and in the hospital for over a week,” Kotb told the cohost. Savannah Guthrie in time. “I am so thankful that he is home. … I’m waiting for that day to come. And we watch them closely. I’m very happy.”
When describing her daughter’s recovery on Monday, Kotb recalled a sweet interaction with the little one. “That day … he had two little confetti stars in his hand, and he said, ‘I’ve got two, Mom. One for me and one for you,'” she recounted. “And I thought, ‘Even if he’s uncomfortable, he’s still giving it his all.'”
At This Just Says Me the author also describes the care her daughter received while in the hospital and expresses her gratitude to the medical professionals who helped her.
“When your child is sick, the amount of gratitude you can have for people who help out… I am thankful for the doctors at Weill Cornell who are amazing and the nurses,” he gushed. “And I thank the family. Kotb then said that Hope is out of the hospital and doing well.
“He is energetic and brilliant,” she said. “I’m over the moon that he’s coming home.”
The next day, Kotb took to social media to thank his fans for their continued messages of love and support.
“I read your note…your post…thank you,” he tweeted on Tuesday, March 7. “It means more than you’ll ever know xo.”
Following the return of her co-anchor earlier this week, Hager – who shares daughters Mila, 9, and Poppy, 7, and son Hal, 3, with her husband. Henry Chase Hager — to ET Kotb shares a message that gives perspective.
“I think he said it best. He said, ‘You know, today is Monday and then it’s a normal day, and everything can change. And I’m just so grateful that I have a partner on television who appreciates every moment, and supports me doing the same thing,” Hager said Thursday. ‘And I have three children who are very important to me. So, it’s best if we both have our priorities checked.
He continued, “I feel like in New York City, things can be crazy, and your world can be so fast, and so it slows down and reminds you of what’s important.”