Jenna Bush Hager says she was once mistaken for Hulk Hogan’s daughter, Brooke Hogan, during an interaction with a fan.
During a special edition of “Spilling the E-Tea” with Jenna and Hoda Kotbthe 42-year-old media personality and mother of three shared that she was surprised while watching a football game where a fan mistook her for Brooke, 35.
“Well, I was once mistaken for – I was at a Giants game and the person behind me said, ‘You look like the daughter of–‘ and I said, ‘Here it comes…'” she said, thinking the person would say his own father, former US President George W. Bush. “‘…Hulk Hogan.'”
She adds: “And it surprised me. I don’t know the name of Hulk Hogan’s daughter, but it took me by surprise.”
The hilarious revelation came when the Today the co-hosts interviewed each other and quizzed their fellow co-hosts about everything from their favorite guests over the years to their first impressions of the other person.
The special edition of the series is part Today with Hoda and Jennacelebrating five years on air together in New Orleans.
During her candid conversation, Hoda, 59, also shared her own celebrity doppelgänger — or at least someone she gets confused about when she’s in public.
“I am often confused with Gayle King,” said the journalist. “It happens all the time — at airports, ‘How’s your best friend, Oprah? How’s Stedman? Oh my God, I love your grandson.'”
Jenna started the Read With Jenna book club on Today program in March 2019 and was quickly elevated to a larger role with the long-running NBC morning show, being offered the role of co-host with Hoda for the fourth hour just a month later. At the time, she replaced Hoda’s longtime on-screen partner, Kathie Lee Gifford.
Jenna had previously intervened temporarily at the table over the years, after initially being hired as a contributor to the program in 2009.
At the time of her April 2019 appointment to the fourth-hour show with Hoda, Jenna was several months pregnant with her third son, Hal, whom she later gave birth to in August of that year.
Reminiscing about how far they’ve come in the half decade they’ve worked together, the pair fought back tears as they talked about their favorite parts of their five years of working together as co-hosts and 15 at the same network.
“I would say probably the favorite things are the small ones,” Jenna told Hoda. “The days sitting around, talking (during) commercial breaks, the time we just really got to know each other.”
“I agree, I agree,” Hoda replied.
As for what Hoda remembers from those first few days together on the show and whether she remembers Jenna sharing the news that they would be tablemates, Hoda said she can imagine the exact reaction and why she knew from the beginning that they would be working. well together.
“I thought you were super excited — you were kind of scared, which I liked,” Hoda shared. “What I remember most about you that day – and every day since – is that you are 100% yourself. You are 100% yourself on day one and you are 100% yourself times five years.
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