Jenna Bush Hager helped Hoda Kotb laugh off a wardrobe mishap during Today’s 4th of July episode.
Kotb, 59, began fidgeting with her red dress behind the anchor desk, admitting she felt like everything was “hanging out” during Thursday’s episode of Today with Hoda & Jenna.
“The bra’s not working. The outfit doesn’t work. The bra’s too big, the straps are too small. I can’t do it. You know when you wear a dress that you shouldn’t wear it,” Kotb said.
While her malfunction happened in front of millions of viewers, Kotb explained her dress situation in very relatable terms.
“You know when you’re like, ‘Everything’s hanging out. It’s not right.’ But you know what, I just decided I’m going to do it,” she continued. “Have you ever gone to a party and gone, ‘It’s fine.’ And then you spend the whole party pulling and shoving and stuffing? It’s not good.”
Bush Hager, 42, understood where her cohost was coming from, sympathizing over having “too much cleavage” that she doesn’t “love,” which Kotb agreed, “I don’t want it. I don’t want it, it’s too much.”
When Kotb felt nervous about possibly “falling out” of her dress, Bush Hager joked that she should just take her bra off completely.
“Will you ever just free your boobs?” Bush Hager asked Kotb, who insisted it was a hard no.
Bush Hager pushed the subject more, continuing, “Free your boobs, Hoda. It’s time … At this point in your life when you’re turning almost 60, free your boobs. Let’s free them. You want me to take your bra off for you?”
Kotb unwaveringly assured Bush Hager the answer would always be no, even when her cohost said she could unhook her bra “real quick and slide it through” her dress.
Bush Hager joined Today in 2009, officially taking over for Kathie Lee Gifford during the fourth hour after her retirement in 2019.
Bush Hager’s comments about Kotb’s bra probably didn’t take her cohost by much surprise because Kotb said she picked up on Bush Hager’s authenticity during their first meeting. In April, the ladies reflected on their first impressions of each other during their “Spilling The E-Tea” segment.
“I thought that you were super excited. You were kinda scared, which I liked,” Kotb recalled. “But the thing that I remember the most about you on that day — and every day since — is you’re 100 percent yourself. You’re 100 percent yourself on day one and you’re 100 percent yourself times five years.”
