Feeling her absence! Hoda Kotb has been noticeably missing from the Today show and Hoda and Jenna. Keep reading for details about the anchor
Hoda, 58, was missed on the daily talk show on Friday, February 24, and fans were concerned when she was also absent from her desk on Monday, February 27.
She was replaced by World News Tonight anchor Tom Llamas during her first day out and Craig Melvin stepped in for her second day of absence.
As far as Today With Hoda and Jenna, cohost Jenna Bush Hager was joined by Sheinelle Jones and Willie Geist.
Her fellow Today employees haven’t divulged much information about her absence.
“Hoda’s off today,” Savannah Guthrie simply mentioned in passing during Monday’s broadcast.
Many fans are hoping Hoda is taking some much-deserved vacation time over the long weekend, as the Oklahoma native has been posting regularly on her Instagram account.
She posted a plethora of inspiring quotes on her feed over the weekend, including ones that read: “She’s magic, that one,” “Sometimes miracles are just good people with kind hearts” and “Choose hope.”
Hoda has given no indication that she’s leaving Today, where she first joined as the fourth hour host alongside Kathie Lee Gifford in 2008. However, her social media use on Monday, February 27, struck some followers as cryptic, as she posted a landscape photo with the words, “Choose Hope,” written across it. She accompanied the photo with three red heart emojis in the caption.
Some users in the comment section took Hoda’s post as a sign that change is on the horizon, asking, “What happened to you?” and, “When are you coming back?” among other inquiries. She has yet to formally comment on any departure from the show.
In addition to her big job at the New York City news station, she’s also a mom to two daughters, Haley Joy, whom she adopted in February 2017, and Hope Catherine, whom she adopted in 2019. She coparents her children with ex Joel Schiffman. Although her romantic relationship with the financier ended, Hoda described her ex as a “great dad.”
“I don’t regret one day, not one minute, not one second of our time together because it brought me here. I have two incredible children I share with him. And it’s because of Joel that I have Haley and Hope, without question,” she told People after announcing their split in January 2022. “I think I might have been too afraid to do it alone. That’s not something I love to admit, but it’s true.”
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