The reason behind Hoda Kotb’s latest break from Today is something many moms can relate to.
During the second hour of the NBC morning show on Thursday, April 18, Savannah Guthrie shared that Kotb, 59, temporarily left set to see her daughter Haley’s “school recital.” Kotb made it back to 30 Rockefeller Plaza for that morning’s episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna, during which she opened up about her busy day.
“For all the moms who forget things, I am among them,” Kotb confessed to her cohost, Jenna Bush Hager, who joked that Kotb had been “racing around the city.”
Kotb went on to share that she forgot about Haley’s school event until the 7-year-old reminded her about it on short notice. “Haley yesterday said, ‘Are you coming to my spring concert?’ And I was like, ‘When is it?’ She goes, ‘It’s tomorrow.’ Well, tomorrow’s today,” she stated. (Kotb shares Haley and her youngest daughter, Hope, 4, with her ex-fiancé, Joel Schiffman.)
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Despite the short deadline, Kotb decided she would be there to support Haley. “I said, ‘Momma’s gonna come in hot,” she said. “’You look at that door, I’m gonna be there. OK?’”
After stepping out from the second hour of Today early, Kotb said she and her driver, Eddie, blasted Beyoncé’s cover of “Blackbird” to calm their nerves while rushing through New York City traffic.
“We rolled up to the school, peace out, run inside, make eye contact with my daughter,” Kotb shared, adding that Haley gave her a wave and a smile upon seeing her in the audience. And while the concert was 15 minutes of children banging on instruments, Kotb called the event “so beautiful.”
“I was melting that I was there and that she saw me, and I was sitting [and] holding my other daughter,” Kotb gushed. “Then at 9, straight up, 8:45 to 9, it’s over. We had a pre-tape at 9:25. I said to Eddie, ‘Let’s flow.’”
Kotb wrapped up her story by telling Bush Hager she and Eddie listened to “YA YA” by Beyoncé while driving back to the studio to film an interview with Orlando Bloom that will air during tomorrow’s Hoda & Jenna episode.
Kotb and Schiffman, 66, adopted Haley and Hope in 2017 and 2019, respectively, before they ended their eight-year relationship in 2022. The TV personality took several breaks from Today last month, some of which were to spend time with her daughters.
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“Beautiful days … magical nights 
,” Kotb captioned a March Instagram slideshow featuring pics from her family’s tropical spring break vacation. She later exited Today ahead of the March 27 episode of Hoda & Jenna and shared an adorable Instagram video of Hope riding around NYC on her scooter while singing “Firework” by Katy Perry.
The following day, Kotb explained she was absent to support her and Bush Hager’s hairstylist, Laura Castorino, after her mother had died.
