Hoda Kotb has been taking a break from her anchoring duties on the Todayshow to focus on a “family health issue,” her colleagues revealed on Wednesday.
The Emmy-winning journalist — who co-anchors Today with Savannah Guthrie, as well as co-hosts the NBC daytime show’s fourth hour alongside Jenna Bush Hager — has been absent from live airways since Feb. 17, though did appear in a pre-tapped episode of Today with Hoda and Jenna that aired on President’s Day, Feb. 20.
Until Wednesday, her leave hasn’t been explained to viewers, Guthrie and company simply saying she was “out.” Members from the Today family, including Craig Melvin and Sheinelle Jones, have been filling in beside Guthrie.
Guthrie herself had to step away while taping on Tuesday morning after testing positive for coronavirus.
Wednesday’s episode saw Melvin and Jones leading the show. At the 7:30 a.m. mark, Melvin provided more context into how Kotb and Guthrie were doing.
“We mentioned that Savannah and Hoda are both off. Savannah, she’s home after a positive COVID test yesterday. We are wishing our friend a speeding recovery,” he said. “And as for Hoda, we know a lot of you have been wondering how she’s doing. We can tell you that Hoda’s okay. She’s got a family health matter that she’s been dealing with, so we look forward to seeing Hoda and Savannah back at the desk real, real soon.”
“We love you both,” Today weatherman Al Roker added.
Despite her absence, Kotb has been active on social media, sharing inspirational and encouraging messages.
“Choose hope,” a message on Monday read, while on Sunday she shared, “Sometimes miracles are just good people with kind hearts.”
“Here’s to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them,” Kotb’s post on Feb. 24 read. “I see you… you strong women ❤️,” Kotb added.
Other posts over the past week have been about how “dark clouds” move on, while one pointedly showed a child figure being told, “One day you will see just how brave you have been.”
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