'Today' Host Jenna Bush Hager Reveals When She'll Return to Daytime Show
Jenna Bush Hager has been absent from Today since announcing her maternity leave on August 2, but [...]
Jenna Bush Hager has been absent from Today since announcing her maternity leave on August 2, but she plans to return to television soon. She called in to the show on Friday and told co-hosts Hoda Kotb and Willie Geist that she will be back "by December."
"I'll come to you first!" she said. "I'm going to be back with you first, then go on the road trip." Bush Hager was referring to an Obama Foundation trip to Vietnam that she is going on in December with First Lady Michelle Obama, actresses Julia Roberts and Lana Condor and Vietnamese singer Veronica Ngo. The mission of the trip is to teach young girls about staying in school and getting their education.
"I'm so excited, guys!" Bush Hager said. "There are a lot of girls who aren't in school, but as many people who won't take that as an answer, who want to see these girls succeed. There are these incredible, resilient people that are up for the challenge."
Bush Hager and her husband, Henry, welcomed a boy on August 2. He is their third child. "We are overcome with joy to welcome Henry Harold 'Hal' Hager' into this world!," she told PEOPLE at the time.
View this post on InstagramTwo months (and a day!!) with the sweetest Hal-pal in the whole world. ❤️❤️🍼❤️
"He is named Henry after many on his father's side including his dear dad and his paternal grandfather. Harold comes from my maternal grandfather, Pa, who I loved dearly and was unable to keep a son long enough to name," she said. "His sisters are thrilled to have a little brother and already nicknamed his nickname, exclaiming 'welcome to the world Hal Pal!'"
When she announced her maternity leave, she spoke about how grateful she is to the people she works with on Today. "I want to thank all of you guys for the last four months. I can't believe it's been four months, but to share this joy with all of you, with you Willie [Geist], with everybody that's filled in … all of you that have cheered us on as a show and cheered me on personally, it means the world," Bush Hager said. "I feel so grateful to work in a place with people that lift me up every day."
"I just feel overcome with gratitude that we get to expand our family. I'm obviously a little hormonal," she joked while tearing up. "But it's a beautiful time in my life, it's a beautiful time in Hoda's life."