Hoda KotbandJenna Bush Hagerwere wiping back tears as they celebrated the fifth anniversary ofToday with Hoda and Kotb.
“It feels like it was yesterday, and it feels so profound,” Bush Hager, 42, said. “To get to sit next to somebody that exudes joy, no matter what you have going on. You greet me with a smile every single day, and I know it’s not always easy. In fact, it’s probably not easy at all.”
“We started off as colleagues/friends. We didn’t really know each other. Over the five years, [we’ve developed] such a deep understanding of the other’s soul and purpose. We have traveled down these roads together,” said Kotb, 59.
“A lot of times, friendships don’t grow — not ours. Ours is every day, it’s something different, something new, something we’re learning,” Kotb continued. “You’ve led me down a path, because of people you knew in your life and people who are healers, who’ve helped heal me. It’s all meant to be. This is all meant to be!”
They both tearfully talked about how lucky they were to be a part of a friendship unit. “We say ‘we’ for everything. I’ll tell mom friends, ‘We’re waiting ‘til 8th grade for phones.’ They’re like, ‘You and Henry?’ I’m like, ‘No, Hoda and me,’ " joked Bush Hager. “But to have a ‘we’ is so profound at this stage in life. Everybody looks for a partner that will grow with them, and here we are.”
A clip package aired later in the show that captured highlights from the past five years, as well as interviews with Kotb and Bush Hager speaking about their working relationship.
“We love each other. We are really good friends and so it makes work easy and natural and fun because I adore who I am next to,” Bush Hager said. “I want Hoda to know that sitting next to her every single day for the last 5 years has been the best, best privilege.““Jenna has become my closest friend in adulthood that I didn’t know I needed,” said Kotb. “You can’t have a real friendship, a real relationships, unless you trust them to catch you when you fall. I know for a fact if I step in it, which I do now and again, she’ll catch me. And she knows for a fact if she steps in it and says something crazy, which she will tomorrow, I’ll catch her.”
The video highlighted how much Kotb and Bush Hager’s personal lives have changed sinceToday with Hoda and Jennalaunched.
Kotb went on maternity leave a week after her first show with Bush Hager, and adopted her second child,Hope Catherine, who turns 5 this month (she’s also mom to daughterHaley Joy, 7). Meanwhile, Bush Hager — already a mom to daughtersMila, now 10, andPoppy, now 8, with husbandHenry Chase Hager— welcomed sonHalin August 2019.
“Our families are growing together and our lives are evolving together,” remarked Bush Hager.
Hal Hager makes a visit to ‘Today with Hoda and Jenna’ on Monday, April 8, 2024.NBC
NBC
Speaking of Hal, he made his first-ever appearance onToday with Hoda and Jennaon Monday’s show.
“We’ve been waiting for you for 5 years to come on. Because you were in your mommy’s tummy and now you’re almost 5 years old,” Kotb told Hal. “You’re going to be a big boy!”
Hal was a little shy, burying his head in his mom’s chest. “He’s looking at himself,” Bush Hager said of her son, who dismissed questions of what his mom did for a living and wouldn’t pick between qhich show he liked better:Today with Hoda and JennaorBluey.
There were other surprises throughout the show, including a video shout-out fromMeghan Trainor, who debuted a new song she wrote in honor of the duo.
Later on Monday, Kotb and Bush Hager will light the Empire State Building in their NBC daytime show’s signature colors, pink and purple.
“I see Hoda and I sitting right there together for the next five years, growing together, learning together, doing more wild and fun things for the very first time together,” said Bush Hager.
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And while the twoTodayhosts celebrated each other, they made sure to give love to the people behind the scenes who make the series happen every day. “Happy anniversary too, to those incredible people back there who greet us with smiles, who put on an incredible show,” said Bush Hager. “We love the people that work for the show so, so much.”
Today with Hoda and Jennaairs weekdays at 10 a.m. ET on NBC.
source: people.com
