Hoda Kotb looked visibly stunned on Wednesday’s episode of Today with Hoda & Jenna when her cohost, Jenna Bush Hager, revealed why she wasn’t wearing her wedding ring and sporting a black eye.
Hoda, who recently celebrated her 60th birthday, kicked off the latest instalment of the NBC morning show by revealing that she was moving house next week and feeling quite overwhelmed with having a ‘clear out’ her daughters’ toys.
When Jenna, 42, admitted that she recently had a ‘major clean-out’ and got rid of some of her kids’ belongings, Hoda said: ‘See, I think we’re teaching them a lesson about material stuff, it’s not important. You need to have a couple of things that are important to you, but having everything….’
Mom-of-three Jenna then revealed: ‘So, I jumped in the ocean and I lost my lucky necklace, okay? And since then some things happened. I tripped, I got a black eye, I broke my ring finger… so some of y’all may be thinking, “is she splitting with the husband?” No.’
Hoda gasped and asked: ‘You broke it?’ which led to Jenna holding up her left hand so that her cohost could inspect it and after doing so, she remarked: ‘Oh, it’s really big, still!’ referring to the swelling.
Hoda Kotb looked stunned on Wednesday when Jenna Bush Hager revealed why she wasn’t wearing her wedding ring and sporting a black eye
Jenna said she wasn’t wearing her wedding ring because she ‘broke’ her ring finger and it was still swollen
Mother-of-three Jenna confirmed that she had not split from her husband, Henry Hager
Referring to her husband, Jenna replied: ‘Yeah, Henry claims I just sprained it, but it was blue!’ as Hoda responded: ‘Well, it’s fractured for sure.’
‘I have a little black eye… all of these things happened right after I lost the necklace,’ Jenna continued, before recalling a conversation about it with her daughter.
‘And I said that to Mila, I said, “I’ve had some misfortunes and maybe it’s because I’ve lost my lucky necklace,” and she said, “Well, were you so stressed after you lost the necklace?” and I said, “No!” Well, not until all the bad things started happening!’
Hoda then blurted out: ‘Are we done? Is everything stopped? Are we done with the bad?’ as Jenna added: ‘I hope so! I can’t predict that. But doesn’t it feel like Mercury has been in retrograde? Well, it has been according to some people….’
‘Everything is in retrograde,’ Hoda confirmed, before adding: ‘If you guys are feeling a little off, you’re not by yourself.’
However, Hoda certainly hasn’t appeared ‘off’ this week as she’s been continuing her birthday celebrations after turning 60 on August 9.
The Today show marked the milestone occasion on Monday’s show by surprising the mother-of-two with some very special guests – which left her in tears.
Hoda couldn’t hide her emotion when her cohosts, Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin, presented her with a montage of video messages from people whose lives she has touched.
Hoda broke down in tears on Monday’s show as her colleagues organized a surprise reunion for her live on air to mark her 60th birthday
The TV host couldn’t hide her emotions when a man named Bart Conley popped up on the screen
Hoda gave Bart a big hug when he surprised her in the Today studio on Monday morning
As the clip played out, Hoda became particularly emotional when a man named Bart Conley popped up on the screen and introduced himself as the husband of a woman named Jill, who met Hoda in the Cayman Islands when she was fighting breast cancer.
As soon as she heard Bart’s voice, Hoda – who was dressed in a bright orange blouse and dark blue denim jeans – quickly turned away from the camera and wiped her eyes as she attempted to compose herself as Savannah, 52, rubbed her arm and tried to console her.
As the story of Hoda and Jill’s friendship played out onscreen, Hoda was seen constantly wiping her eyes and taking deep breaths as it clearly brought back from painful memories of when Jill sadly passed away in 2016 at the age of 38.
Moments later, Hoda was left stunned by Craig and Savannah who revealed that Bart was actually live in the studio, along with a father-and-daughter duo – who met her years ago due to cancer – and a couple, who she surprised live on air with adoption news.
As Hoda greeted Bart, she gave him a long hug and sweetly pressed his head against hers before they shared a sweet story about the first time they met one another along with Jill.
Bart began: ‘You were both going through breast cancer and the grace that you reached out to us and we always felt so close to you from the beginning, like a true friend, not like a celebrity on TV.
‘I remember going to lunch with you and you two were hitting it off and I felt so comfortable and you sharing our story meant so, so much to us.’
Hoda added: ‘Do you remember at that event at the Cayman Islands, I’ll never forget it, Jill said to me, “I have X number of months to live,” and so I brought her up and she said, I’ll never forget, she pointed at you and she said, “I’m the luckiest person in the world,”‘ before her voice broke.
‘It’s one of those things that’s forever emblazoned on your heart. I remember what she said about you, it’s beautiful,’ Hoda added.
