Jenna Bush Hager and Hoda Kotb kicked off Thursday’s (Aug. 15) broadcast of Today with a touching conversation about reaching out to the “strong” people in your life, but Bush Hager nearly derailed the conversation with a hilarious analogy.
“I think a lot of strong women, because we’re used to saying, ‘I’m fine, I got it, I got it, I’m fine, I’ll do it.’ But sometimes you have to say to yourself, ‘Wait, I need something, I don’t got it,” Kotb told her co-host.
Bush Hager agreed, replying, “If your exterior is tough… Sometimes people don’t think you need anything. They don’t think you need a hand to hold or the support.”
She then suddenly added, “We’re kind of like M&Ms.”
“What?” Kotb replied. Bush Hager just repeated her analogy, prompting Kotb to ask with a laugh, “What are you talking about?”
“We got a tough outer shell, but on the inside, we’re soft,” Bush Hager explained.
Kotb laughed and exclaimed, “Oh God, we are.”
Despite the interruption, Kotb said their conversation reminded her of a “weird memory” she had from her time in college, soon after her father passed away. She was just getting back to her everyday life when one of her sorority sisters asked how she was doing.
“It was like the dam burst,” she recalled. She expressed how much it meant to her to have someone check in with “sincerity” rather than trying to “peace out” from the conversation.
“The other thing I learned, and anyone who’s lost someone knows this, sometimes people say, ‘I don’t want to invade their privacy, so I’m not going to go. I’m not going to call, I’m not going to reach out,'” she told Bush Hager.
She continued, “I learned for me, always call, always reach out, always show up. Give the person the right to say no thank you, but if you don’t show up you’re making the decision for them.”
Bush Hager and Kotb have become known for their strong friendship and their ability to balance humor with the serious topics they cover on Today.
They recently shared another emotional moment together when NBC celebrated Kotb’s 60th birthday on the show with a live audience and several special appearances from Kotb’s loved ones.
Kotb could barely hold her tears back when Bush Hager surprised her co-host with a special gift from her family during the broadcast. Her father, former U.S. President George W. Bush, painted Kotb a portrait of herself and her two daughters.
Kotb could barely get the words out, prompting Bush Hager to quickly segue into the next thing they had planned for the broadcast. “Oh no! It’s too much, it’s too much. Okay, we have to go to a video,” she said.
Today with Hoda & Jenna airs on weekdays at 10/9c on NBC.