Carson Daly Reveals How Losing His Parents Weeks Apart Impacted His New Year’s Resolution

Carson Daly is reflecting on the loss of both of his parents just weeks apart and opening up about how their deaths have impacted his New Year’s resolution.

On Wednesday, The Voice host sat down with his Today co-host Hoda Kotb to talk about 2019 and their New Year’s resolutions, revealing that instead of focusing on weight loss or eating better like he has in years past, he is instead choosing to take a “macro” approach and focus on a positive outlook on life.

“I think bigger than just the weight, the food — all that stuff is every day. We all struggle with that, we all do the best we can. My new thing is compartmentalizing,” he said. “As a parent, we get stuck in the calendar…We’re always looking so far forward on our calendar to find a moment of happiness…of relief from life.”

His new outlook heading into 2019, he said, is credited to the deaths of his parents, Pattie Daly Caruso, who passed away on Sept. 17, 2017 of a heart attack, and his stepfather, Richard Caruso, who passed away that October following a battle with bone cancer.

“My thing is just 24 hours,” he continued. “Now I wake up and I’m like, ‘Thank you God, I got a new day, a fresh day. How can I be the best husband, the best father, the best coworker, the best fellow citizen? I’ve got today. I’ve got right now, in this moment.’”

“When I play with my kid, I play with him every day,” Daly said. “Losing my folks, the fragility of life, we [forget]…it’s so crazy. I can’t believe I’m 45. I can’t believe I’ve been in Times Square for 20 years. I can’t believe I’m on the Today show.”

“Life goes by so fast that for me, now, it’s just like, live and marinate in that moment when I’m in a tickle fight,” he concluded. “And then when I go to bed, it’s just like, ‘You know what? I hope I did good today and if God gives me another day, I’m just gonna do it again.’”

Following the deaths of his parents, Daly opened up about his losses, revealing that he was left in “shock” and that he learned that grief “is a process.” He added at a later time that he soon came to realize that “the more pain I feel losing my parents is a testament to how much they impacted on my life” and that he was grateful they had “equipped me with the tools to handle it, because they’re incredible parents, and I hope to pass that down.”