An Ex-President Gave Today Star Hoda Kotb a Special Gift For Her 60th Birthday

Today Show anchor Hoda Kotb was brought to tears on national television as she opened a very special birthday gift.

On Friday, she celebrated her 60th birthday with her Today Show cast and crew as audience members looked on. The gift, a one-of-one painting, was created just for Kotb by former President George W. Bush. The painting was gifted to Kotb on behalf of Bush by his daughter Jenna Bush-Hager, who co-hosts the fourth hour of the Today show with Kotb.

Bush-Hager says, tearfully and overcome with emotion, as she watches Kotb unwrap the gift, “Oh no! It’s too much. We have to go to a video.” The picture, an original created by the former President, is a recreation of Kotb’s favorite picture with her young daughters, Hailey, 7, and Hope, 4. It depicts the three walking together and features a unique “43” painted in red at the bottom right corner, referencing Bush as the 43rd President of the United States, in lieu of a traditional artist signature.

In his retirement, former President Bush took up painting as a hobby, creating art of over 40 immigrants to the United States, the late US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a bald eagle, and the American Flag. Kotb reflecting on motherhood, “I remember vividly turning 50 and saying to myself, ‘This life that you have is great and don’t ask for more because you’re deserving of only what you have.'”

She continued, “I wondered if I was worthy of being a mother. I wondered that. And one day I said, ‘I wonder if it’s OK to say out loud: I wish to be a mom.’ What I was doing was speaking it out into the universe.” The crowd chanted Kotb’s name and held home-made banners with birthday messages, along with a group of women in the audience who were also turning 60.

Kotb became a mother for the first time in 2017 when she adopted her daughter Haley. Just over two years later, Kotb adopted a second daughter, Hope. Kotb publicly fought breast cancer at the age of 43 and underwent a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery, leading her to become an advocate for breast cancer awareness.