Those who like to start their mornings watching TODAY with Hoda & Jenna – which features Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager – will have to settle for reruns this week. The two hosts will be absent from the show this week as they spend time with their children, who are enjoying their Spring Break vacation.
This is the second recent absence for Hoda Kotb, who missed roughly two weeks of taping while her younger daughter, Haley, struggled with some health complications that landed her in the intensive care unit (ICU) and eventually the hospital. She returned to the show on May 6, but is now out another week.
TODAY with Hoda & Jenna, which airs on the fourth hour of the TODAY show, has been running since April 2019. It was previously the Kathie Lee & Hoda show between 2008 and 2019, until Kathie Lee Gifford was replaced by Jenna Bush Hager. Hoda Kotb has been with the fourth hour since 2007.
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Hoda Kotb is enjoying her vacation time with her two daughters – Haley Joy, 6, and Hope Catherine, 3. She co-parents both of her daughters with Joel Schiffman, who she was engaged to between November 2019 and January 2022. Haley was adopted in February 2017, while Hope was adopted in April 2019.
Kotb, who turns 59 years old in August, spoke openly about being an ‘older mom’ last year. “As an older mom, I think there are a lot of beautiful parts and challenges too,” she admitted in a May 2022 episode, adding that she’s ‘not embarrassed to be my age. I’m happy at my age. It’s the perfect storm of my life.”
Meanwhile, Jenna Bush Hager is a mother to two daughters – Margaret “Mila” Laura, 9 and Poppy Louise, 7 – and one son – Henry “Hal” Harold, 3. She shares all three children with Henry Chase Hager, who she married on May 10, 2008. She also experienced an ectopic pregnancy before having Mila.
Last October, Jenna wrote an open letter to her children to celebrate Mother’s Day. “My sweet daughters, this is a letter about motherhood, a word that you don’t yet truly understand. Sure, you say the word “Mama” countless times a day—it is a word I will never tire of hearing,” she wrote via Southern Living.
Hoda Kotb Opens Up About Her Daughter’s Health Scare
When Hoda Kotb returned from her absence in early March, she gave viewers a brief update on what has kept her from the Hoda & Jenna show. She likened her daughter’s experience to a typical Monday – one that people usually complain about until Tuesday rolls around and you see that Monday wasn’t that bad.
“So for us, it was little Hope had to go to the hospital, and she was in the ICU for a few days and then the hospital for another week and it was really scary. And she’s vibrant and brilliant,” she said of her daughter, who turned three years old last month. It was scary for the family at first, but she ended up being fine.
Hoda went on to thank all the nurses for their excellence during treatment and the continued recovery, while also thanking her fans for their love and support as they stuck by her side throughout it all. She was happy to have her daughter back home and was excited to be back at work – doing what she does best.
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She also opened up about how the health scare impacted her eldest daughter, who didn’t know how to feel about all the attention going to her younger sister. “It’s weird, but I feel like I got most of my resilience in life because of that. You didn’t expect to always be seen and heard,” she said in a recent segment.
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