Jenna Bush Hager Wants to Set Up Hoda Kotb
Matchmaker, matchmaker, make Hoda Kotb a match!
Jenna Bush Hager says she’s interested in setting up Hoda on a date and Hoda says she’s into the idea.
“I want to set you up,” Jenna told her Monday on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna.
“OK. I want to be set up,” Hoda replied.
“What?” an astonished Jenna said.
“I want to be set up,” Hoda said again.
“I have chills!” Jenna exclaimed. “That is a challenge that I am going to go for.”
Hoda then explained why she’s on board with Jenna helping her find love.
“Because you know me and I trust you,” she said. “If you didn’t know me, even if we were anchoring and pretending, then I wouldn’t say yes, but you do know me.”
“I have chills. I have a lot to do,” Jenna said.
The subject came up when the duo discussed how dating apps may be on the outs right now and being set up could be a trendier way to meet someone special.
“If you go on a date on an app, if 10 minutes into the date you don’t like it, you could just end it and the lights go out," Hoda said. "If you’re with someone, same vibe, but your friend set you up, you might say, ‘Maybe there’s a reason that she thought this guy would be good. Let me just be curious. Let me ask more questions. Let me not get turned off quickly and say, “Well, that’s out."'"
“I think openness is the key, regardless of how you meet,” Jenna said. “If you’re open and meet on an app, great. If you’re open and you meet through friends, great. If you go in thinking, ‘Ugh, , I’ve done so many of these. On paper, this doesn’t feel right,’ it’s not going to happen.”
In January, Hoda and fiancé Joel Schiffman, who are parents to daughters Haley, 6, and Hope, 3, announced they had broken off their engagement.
“Joel and I have had a lot of prayerful and really meaningful conversations over the holidays, and we decided that we’re better as friends and parents than we are as an engaged couple,” she said on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna.
“So we decided that we are going to start this new year and begin it kind of on our new path as loving parents to our adorable, delightful children, and as friends.”
The couple got engaged in November 2019, but had pushed back the date several times due to the pandemic.
In May, she said she would consider dating again.
“I haven’t really thought about who I would see myself with, but I do have to say something,” she told People while celebrating the 70th anniversary of TODAY at the Paley Center for Media in New York City.
“My sister even said and asked me at one point, ‘Are (you) afraid to be by yourself?’ And I said to her, ‘I’m not going to be by myself.’ And I don’t know why I said it so clearly, but I actually knew that my heart is open. I have an open heart.”
“I know at some point and I can see it, it will happen” Hoda added. “When? I can’t say but I assured her I said, ‘Oh, don’t worry. No worries. I said I’m going to be just fine.’”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
