Jenna Bush Hager was recently announced as the new co-host of Today with Hoda Kotb, after Kathie Lee Gifford chose to step away from the program. Gifford was thrilled about her replacement, and give her kind words before she took over.
"You keep trusting your instincts and you're going to sit next to the best person in the whole world because she has your back, because she has your heart," Gifford said of Kotb. "It's going to be fun. You guys are going to have a ball."
Bush Hager was announced as the replacement just under two months ago, but this week she made an announcement that no one really saw coming. The 37-year-old mom announced that she and her husband are expecting their third child together, and this time it's a boy! The former first daughter announced her news on the show, while Kotb was at home taking care of her newborn daughter.
"Yes, I'm pregnant!" Bush Hager said. "I'm very pregnant. I don't know how you missed this! I've needed seven or eight sports bras."
Bush Hager was obviously excited about her expanding family, but she admitted to feeling some guilt about her pregnancy knowing that so many people struggle with infertility and adoption issues, including Kotb.
"When I had that conversation with Hoda, because I knew she wanted this baby, I called my mom," Bush Hager explained. "I said, "˜Barbara' [Bush Hager's sister]"” who just got married "” "˜and Hoda, they want these babies, and I have this guilt.' And my mom said, "˜Everybody gets their babies when they're supposed to.' My mom and her mom before her struggled with infertility forever, and so I thought that was a beautiful thing to say."
Kotb had nothing but kind things to say about her co-host, and even pointed out that she had a secret of her own while Bush Hager was keeping her pregnancy a secret.
"Jenna, first of all, you're amazing," Kotb said via phone on the show. "And when you told me that you were pregnant, I still remember because ... we were wondering about adoption issues, but listening to you, I was praying. And you said, "˜Oh Hoda, I feel so bad.' I said, "˜Please don't!' I was literally kind of holding onto a little secret and look at us, now it's all out in the open."
The secret Kotb is referring to is the birth of her second daughter, Hope, who she welcomed via adoption.
Kotb couldn't stop gushing about her co-star, and explained that this is her year.
"I feel like this is your year for a million reasons," she explained. "You are on the show you were born to be on, you're expanding your family, which is exactly what is supposed to be happening. This is the year of Jenna Bush Hager."
Bush Hager admitted that even though this pregnancy was unplanned, she's not taking it for granted.
"We weren't really trying to get pregnant," she joked. "We had some fertility issues with Poppy. So we just "” it was a date night. Sorry, Mom! I don't take this lightly. I know how blessed and lucky I am. It's an amazing gift. So Hoda, thank you for your love and happiness and support "” and give that baby a kiss."
Bush Hager hid her pregnancy as best she could, with an insider saying she's more than five months along.
"Everybody is super impressed that Jenna could hide the pregnancy for more than five months," the insider revealed. "It's really hard to hide anything beyond the first pregnancy."
The co-host has been hiding under flowing shirts, big scarves, and an all-around clever wardrobe. However, after some point, you can't really hide that kind of thing anymore!
This new baby will be Bush Hager and husband Henry Hager's first boy. The couple shared two daughters together, Poppy Louise and Margaret "Mia" Laura. In a reading with Hollywood Medium Tyler Henry on Today, Bush Hager admitted they already have some ideas for a name.
"We've always thought if we had a boy, we were going to name him after [Harold Welch, her late grandfather]," she shared. "But we haven't had a boy yet."
