Jenna Bush Hager recently confessed to losing a Christmas gift from her co-host, Hoda Kotb, only to find it a day later. During a segment called “We Listen and We Don’t Judge” on The Today with Jenna & Friends, Bush Hager admitted to misplacing the necklace Kotb gifted her.
Bush Hager, 43, confessed, “You gave me a beautiful Christmas present this year and I think it [somehow got thrown out]. I can’t find it anywhere. I’ve been searching and searching and searching.” Kotb, 60, reacted with laughter, seemingly unfazed by the lost gift.
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The following day, Bush Hager triumphantly announced she had located the missing heart-shaped gold pendant. “On social media, we did something called, ‘We listen and we don’t judge.’ And I had something that was weighing on my heart, no pun intended, in a big way,” she explained, referring to the lost gift.
Kotb responded with surprise, “Well I wondered why you never wore it, but I thought, ‘Maybe you didn’t like it?’” She recalled Bush Hager’s initial hesitation to confess, “And you said — we did this little confessional thing — and you said, ‘I’m afraid to say it, I’m afraid to say it, I’m afraid to say it.’”
Bush Hager recounted the moment of confession, “You gave me a Christmas present, and I lost it,” she said, laughing along with Kotb. The necklace’s designer, Jen Miller, had reached out to send a replacement. However, while cleaning her bathroom that evening, Bush Hager found the original necklace on her counter.
“And what I realized is that if you feel bad about something, you have to just say it and it’ll come home. And it came home!” Bush Hager declared. Kotb added, “Right, if you had harbored the secret, you probably never would have found it! But you said it, it was out. And then you FaceTimed me. You were like, ‘Guess what!’ You were screaming. And then I saw it.”
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This lighthearted incident occurred shortly before Kotb’s departure from Today after 25 years with NBC. Kotb plans to launch a wellness company this spring, featuring retreats and a podcast. Today celebrated Kotb’s final week with a “Hoda-bration,” including a reunion with her sorority sisters and a special gift from author Charlie Mackesy.
Following Kotb’s exit, Bush Hager will welcome celebrity guest co-hosts like Taraji P. Henson, Eva Longoria, Keke Palmer, and Scarlett Johansson. “Nobody will ever fill this chair, but the three of them sure can try,” Bush Hager commented.
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Kotb’s final episodes of Today and Today with Hoda and Jenna aired on January 10th.
