Hoda Kotb has long been a fan of Oprah Winfrey, but had never met her. When Jenna Bush Hager, her co-host on the fourth hour of the Today Show, learned how much Hoda wanted to interview Oprah, she went to great lengths to make it happen. On Friday, Hoda shared an Instagram photo of she and Oprah embracing after they met for the first time.
In the sweet photo, Oprah warmly embraces a very emotional Hoda after stopping by the Today Show for the first time in years. This was a huge moment for Hoda and Hager, who had made it one of their goals to welcome Oprah onto their show sometime during 2020.
In Hoda’s eyes at the time of making this goal, meeting Oprah was something to dream about, but not something she ever expected to actually happen. What she didn’t know at the time was that Hager had every intention of making this a reality for her.
As The Inquisitr previously reported, Hager worked hard behind the scenes to convince Oprah to come on their show. She had met the iconic talk show host and entrepreneur previously after working with her on her 2020 Vision Tour, so she had the connections to make it happen. Nevertheless, Oprah is a busy woman and landing an interview with her was no easy task. Thus, Hager comically admitted that she resulted to bribing her with flowers and wine.
“I wrote her a letter [thanking] her for starting her tour with us and said, ‘There’s always a place if you ever want to come,’ and then we had a phone call, and I sent wine to her whole team for helping with this interview. I sent flowers. The wine is key to everything,” Hager recalled with a laugh.
Hager informed a star struck Hoda this past week that they would be welcoming Oprah on the show that Friday. The meet up was everything Hoda could have hoped for, and she had the opportunity to tell Oprah how much she meant to her, according to Pop Culture.
“I feel like I’ve been in this business 100 years…you know when people say, ‘You mean to much to me,’ but they’ve never met you and I know maybe it does seems a little weird, but this is really one of those moments for me,” Hoda tearfully told Oprah.
Oprah came bearing gifts, including a large basket full of fresh produce from her very own infamous garden for the two co-hosts to share.
