Hoda Kotb did not seem particularly interested when Jenna Bush Hager launched into yet another conversation about cats on Today.
After Bush Hager shared a rather morbid story about the time her twin sister Barbara’s cat passed away, Kotb interrupted a point she was trying to make by telling her co-host she had something in her teeth. “She’s not even getting into my emotional conversation!” Bush Hager said, turning to the camera.
She then asked Kotb if she ever lost an animal when she was a child, which Kotb denied. “We never had an animal except for Blake,” she said, referring to a dog she had years ago. “Blake is fine, Blake does live with Ang the dog walker because he snapped at [my daughter] Hailey when she was first born. I didn’t know what to do.”
Bush Hager appeared to understand as she began explaining, “You know, Bernadette – I had a cat before Mila and I had to give her away.”
Kotb interrupted Bush Hager’s story with a loud sigh. “This is boring,” she announced. “People are bored, this is not good.”
With a laugh, Bush Hager agreed but continued her story anyway. “I know, I mean I’m bored, but I had a cat named Bernadette. and I got allergic to her and she lives with my parents.”
“Okay, we already know that story! We do,” Kotb responded before segueing into the next topic on the docket.
Just yesterday, Bush Hager and Kotb had a long conversation about Bush Hager’s daughter losing her cat this summer. The conversation notably took up most of their morning chat during the broadcast.
“That’s our whole [segment]?” she asked at the end of their morning chat. “I’m sorry I took up so much time about the cats. It’s been on my mind, now it’s out.”
Kotb attempted to make her feel better by asking if she felt “relieved” since she’s been “carrying it around” for so long. Bush Hager responded, “I’ve been carrying it, but also, y’all, do I need some psychological help? Probably.”
She later joked that she may need to go to therapy for her “abandonment issues.”
Today with Hoda & Jenna airs on weekdays at 10/9c on NBC.