Hoda Kotb returns, revealing daughter’s hospital stay was behind ‘Today’ absence

On Monday, Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie were back in their anchor chairs at Today, with the former describing a hospital stay for her 3-year-old daughter, Hope, was the reason she had been MIA for weeks.

“My youngest, Hope, was in the ICU for a few days and in the hospital for more than a week,” Kotb revealed at the show’s open, adding, I’m so grateful she’s home. I was waiting for that day to come…And we are watching her closely. I am just so happy.”

Getting emotional, Kotb also said, “You know what I realized: When your child is ill, the amount of gratitude you can have for people who helped you out.”

“I’m grateful for the doctors and the nurses,” she explained, adding to Guthrie, “I’m grateful to my family and to friends like you who were there every single day.”

Guthrie also had been absent recently after testing positive for COVID-19.

Last week, it was revealed that a “family health matter” had kept Kotb away from the anchor desk.

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