Watch: Today’s Jenna Bush Hager Cries On-Air in Emotional Motherhood Moment
From the heart of New York City, it’s Jenna Bush Hager getting candid about being a working mom.
The Today anchor—who shares kids Mila, 13, Poppy, 10, and Hal, 6, with husband Henry Hager—got emotional on air as she detailed balancing motherhood with her professional career.
“I have been working a lot because this has been shooting, and then I’ve had these big interviews and then all the book stuff,” Jenna told co-host Sheinelle Jones during the April 30 episode of Today with Jenna and Sheinelle, “and so this morning when I woke up, I thought, ‘OK, the next couple weeks, the next couple months, it’s like kid-focused.’”
“I’m like, how can I show up for Poppy in a way—now I’m crying,” she added before tearing up. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
But Jenna—whose stacked schedule has included reporting on the daytime show, appearing in the Devil Wears Prada 2 and working as a producer on NBC’s Protection among other professional ventures—wasn’t in it alone.
After all, Sheinelle swiftly embraced the journalist into a hug as she regained her composure.
“We’re OK,” Jenna, 44, quipped, before she jokingly added, “It may look like everything’s great, but things are falling apart.”
And Sheinelle—mom to three kids with her late husband Uche Ojeh—felt where her colleague was coming from.
“We can’t do it all at once,” Sheinelle reassured her, “but we’re doing it.”
Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images
Recently, Sheinelle, 48, shared how the Today family—including Jenna, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker and Craig Melvin—lift one another up. In fact, their bond was never more on display than when Uche was battling glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer, before his death in May 2025.
“When my husband was sick, they were my family,” Sheinelle told E! News in an interview published May 2. “Al was bringing breakfast sandwiches into hospice for us, Savannah was right with us after the first surgery.”
She emphasized of their chemistry that audiences have come to love on TV, “It’s not just pretend.”
Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images
In fact, Sheinelle’s Today colleagues were by her side for the 18 months Uche was battling the illness, even before the world knew what her family was going through.
“We do it when no one’s watching,” she said, pointing out that publicly, “nobody knew what I was going through—they all knew. Every day I was never alone. They were always there helping the kids, helping me with dinner.”
Sheinelle added, “When it’s time to rally around each other, we do it.”
For a look into the Today family photo album, read on…
Photo by: Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images
Craig Melvin / Instagram
Jenna Bush Hager / Instagram
Lester Holt / Instagram
Steve Mack/Getty Images
Noam Galai/WireImage
Paul Zimmerman/WireImage
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