Jenna Bush Hager made Savannah Guthrie crack up with a comment about her on-air behavior.
The BFFs chatted about their love for author Judy Blume on the Thursday, May 22, episode of Today With Jenna & Friends. “I feel like half of the things I have learned about life, and frankly, a little bit of the birds and bees …” Guthrie, 53, began before Bush Hager, 43, cut in to point out that her cohost didn’t explicitly state she was talking about sex.
“Can you say sex?” she asked, to which Guthrie replied, “I can.”
Bush Hager went on to joke, “She’s kind of repressed. Go ahead. Can you say sex?”
Guthrie — who agreed she was “very repressed” — was initially hesitant about fulfilling Bush Hager’s request, asking, “Do I have to? I think we know what we’re talking about.” Ultimately, she caved in and simply said, “Sex.”
“Wow, I’m so proud of you,” Bush Hager said as Guthrie laughed and received applause from the show’s off-camera crew. Guthrie continued to make her colleague giggle after trying to use the topic of sex as a segue into their next talking point about a New York news anchor going into labor live on air.
“Is that your transition?” Guthrie asked, to which Bush Hager hilariously rebutted, “Well, that’s how you get pregnant, in case they didn’t explain everything to you.”
Guthrie wrapped up the topic by pointing out she “did have two babies.” She shares daughter Vale, 10, and son Charley, 8, with her husband, Michael Feldman. Bush Hager, for her part, shares kids Mila, 12, Poppy, 9, and Hal, 5, with her husband, Henry Hager.
Earlier in the discussion, Guthrie noted that she was envious of Bush Hager’s connection with Blume, 87. “Listen, I don’t have a lot of jealousy issues with you, but one is that you have hung out with Judy Blume. I love Judy Blume,” she said.
Bush Hager proceeded to recall a recent Zoom call she had with the beloved author about adapting her book Summer Sisters into a TV show, only to be interrupted by her eldest daughter.
“Mila walks in the room. And at first, I’m humiliated, like, ‘Oh, gosh. Of course, I’m one of those moms that’s [having a Zoom call] from home and a kid walks in,’” Bush Hager shared. “And then, I said, ‘Mila, let me introduce you to Judy Blume.’ … And she goes, ‘Judy! Oh, my gosh! I read the first chapter book that you wrote. The very first chapter book I ever read, you wrote it, and I love you.’”
While the moment was a sweet one, Bush Hager went on to joke, “She left and I was like, ‘They’re probably gonna think I paid my child to make a little appearance in.’”
Guthrie will end her week-long run as Bush Hager’s Jenna & Friends cohost on Friday, May 23. Bush Hager has continued to lead the fourth hour of Today with a lineup of celebrity guest hosts since Hoda Kotb’s exit from the NBC morning show on January 10.
