Credit: NBC
NEED TO KNOW
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Hoda Kotb reunited with George W. Bush during Jenna Bush Hager’s History Talks interview with her father
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Bush joked about starting a show with Kotb called Hoda & George after praising her bright yellow pantsuit
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Kotb and Bush share a long history, including a custom portrait he painted for her 60th birthday
Hoda Kotb might just have her next TV gig lined up. The 61-year-old former Today co-host ran into George W. Bush, the father of her longtime pal and former co-host Jenna Bush Hager, and the former U.S. president had a suggestion for Kotb’s next venture.
While Bush Hager was interviewing her dad for the History Talks program in honor of the 250th anniversary of America’s independence, she pointed out Kotb, who was on set in a bright yellow pantsuit.
“Hodes!” Bush, 79, declared, making his way toward Kotb. “Look at you!”
Bush Hager, 44, asked her dad, “Doesn’t she look great?”
“She does look great,” Bush said before giving Kotb a big hug.
Credit: NBC
While Bush and Kotb were embracing, Bush Hager jokingly referred to the pair as “my two dads!” before they all posed for a photo together.
But Bush had another title in mind for Kotb.
“Hoda and I are gonna do a show together,” he jokingly declared. “Hoda & George.”
The comment caused Kotb to crack up over a year after her exit from the NBC morning show. While the mother of two stepped away from the show to spend more time with her daughters Haley and Hope, she has frequently returned for brief appearances.
Notably, when Savannah Guthrie had an extended leave of absence from the show amid her mother Nancy Guthrie’s ongoing abduction investigation, Kotb filled in for her. She then sat by Savannah’s side while Craig Melvin, who replaced her on the show, was absent for his family’s spring break trip.
“Just sitting next to her. That’s it. It’s been really beautiful and I feel privileged to be able to sit there for a little while,” Kotb recently told PEOPLE. “I feel like I get to be in the seat to watch what strength looks like. There’s nobody like her.”
Credit: Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty
As for Kotb and Bush, they have a long-running history of adoration. In honor of Kotb’s 60th birthday, Bush painted her a custom portrait of her with her two daughters, bringing her to tears.
Bush Hager previously shared that her dad praised Kotb when she first got the job on Today with Hoda & Jenna.
“He said, ‘I’m so happy for you, and Hoda’s a star, you’re gonna be OK with that, right?” Bush Hager said in September 2024.
Read the original article on People
