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Why Is Jenna Bush Hager Absent From ‘Today’?

Originally posted on TV Insider | Last updated Aug 18, 2025 1:53 PM ET

Jenna Bush Hager seemingly extended her long weekend into a lengthier break from Today.

The TV personality was noticeably absent from the NBC morning show on Thursday, August 14, and Friday, August 15. In addition to not joining her Today colleagues out on the 30 Rockefeller Center plaza, Thursday and Friday’s episodes of Today With Jenna & Friends were also prerecorded.

Her hiatus continued into this week, as Bush Hager was once again absent from Today‘s earlier hours before a new prerecorded episode of Jenna & Friends aired. The reason behind Bush Hager’s break was not shared, nor was her return date given.

Savannah Guthrie stepped in as Bush Hager’s guest host on Monday’s Jenna & Friends, which re-aired old interviews and segments featuring celebrities including Sarah Jessica Parker, Winnie Harlow, Martha Stewart, Sofía Vergara, and Mel B.

She hinted at another absence at the end of Monday’s episode, sharing that the Tuesday, August 19, broadcast will feature appearances from Dwyane Wade, Olivia Munn, Halle Berry, and Van Hunt, all of whom have been on the show in recent months.

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As of Monday, the show’s official website does not list any celebrity cohosts for this week’s episodes. Jenna & Friends previously aired a handful of “best-of shows” in late June and early July while Bush Hager enjoyed some more time off from Today.

This time last year, Bush Hager and her then-cohost, Hoda Kotb, had recently returned to the fourth hour of Today after Today With Hoda & Jenna was put on pause amid NBC’s coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics. The series returned on August 12, 2024, for Kotb’s 60th birthday special.

The former hosting duo ended that week with a prerecorded episode, followed by two whole weeks of prerecorded shows. The series returned with new episodes on September 3, 2024, with the third hour of Today‘s Sheinelle Jones stepping in for Kotb for the day. Kotb appeared on the remainder of the week’s episodes, the last of which was prerecorded. (Jenna & Friends is often prerecorded on Fridays.)

During a recent episode of Jenna & Friends, Bush Hager teased that she may bid farewell to her Today gig once her kids become teenagers. “I have a dream, I don’t know how realistic it is, but when this chapter, when the Jenna & Friends chapter has come to a close…” she told her guest host, Matt Rogers, on August 6.

“When I’m ready to go to my next chapter, I think it’d be so nice to move back to Texas and let my kids — I went to a big public high school — like, have a different life,” she added, noting that she had 1,000 in her own first-year high school class. (Bush Hager shares her daughters Mila, 12, and Poppy, 10, and son Hal, 6, with her husband, Henry Hager.)

Today With Jenna & Friends, Weekdays, 10 a.m. ET, NBC

This article first appeared on TV Insider and was syndicated with permission.

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