Celebrities are just like Us — even they enjoy getting a head start on the weekend.
Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie were absent from the first two hours of Today on Friday, June 14, with Saturday Today coanchors Laura Jarrett and Peter Alexander stepping in to host alongside Craig Melvin. Sheinelle Jones was also missing from the show’s third hour, with cohost Dylan Dreyer noting she had the day “off.” (Kotb, 59, did appear on Today With Hoda & Jenna as the episode was pre-recorded.)
Amid the women’s absence, Melvin, 45, and cohosts Al Roker, Carson Daly and Willie Geist celebrated Father’s Day early with a special meal at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. In a fun video package, the Today dads took their annual Father’s Day adventure by riding around New York City in a 1975 Chevrolet Caprice convertible, making their own pizza and chatting about fatherhood.
This week also included some sweet moments for the moms of Today. Guthrie’s son Charley, 7, surprised her on set on Thursday, June 13, joining her out on the Plaza and during the episode’s cooking segment.
“Made my day 💛,” Guthrie, 52, captioned Instagram pics of the surprise Bring Your Kid to Work Day. (Guthrie shares Charley and her daughter Vale, 9, with her husband, Michael Feldman.)
Jones, 46, also skipped the third hour of Today on Wednesday, June 12, to attend her son Kayin’s 8th grade graduation. “I remember your first day of pre-k like it was yesterday! You were this giant light ready to soak up everything they could teach you,” she captioned an Instagram montage of past and present pics of Kayin, 14.
She continued: “All of these years later, your love for learning continues, but more importantly your love for people, and passion for squeezing the *most* out of your experiences – from music to sports. — When you stepped up to the podium with that smile, my heart was filled with so much gratitude for the young man that you are, and the man you are becoming. Love you Kayin! – 8th grade! ✅ I can’t believe it’s time for high school! ❤️ (Jones shares Kayin and twins Clara and Uche, 11, with her husband, Uche Ojeh.)
Kotb, for her part, has been busy moving to a new part of NYC with her daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, whom she shares with ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman. “I was looking through old videos of them, when they were so little, and it’s like you want to hold onto things and you want to let go,” Kotb shared on the June 3 episode of Hoda & Jenna. “And when I saw these videos of them when they were kids, little babies, I can’t believe I have a 7 and a 5-year-old. And I can’t believe all those memories. … There were so many things that we have built there.”
At the time, Kotb said she didn’t want to “race through” her move, adding, “Don’t race through transitions. Don’t race through endings and say, ‘Let’s just wish it away.’”
