Overview
- Jenna Bush Hager skipped her usual 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. appearances and arrived in time to co-host the 10 a.m. fourth hour of Today on Monday, August 10.
- Hager said she had flown home from Maine for her nephew Edward Finn Coyne’s baptism and said she grew emotional while reading a Mary Oliver poem at the family church.
- Producers and NBC colleagues covered the earlier segments, with Savannah Guthrie and other Weekend Today and NBC personalities stepping in for the missing slots.
- Co-host Sheinelle Jones said crew members were asking about Hager’s whereabouts and joked she was “not Jenna’s keeper,” and coverage reports indicate producers knew Hager’s plans.
- The episode underscores the show’s recurring scheduling flexibility as Hager has led the fourth hour since 2019 and Jones became her permanent co-host earlier this year, and there is no sign this was anything beyond a one-day scheduling change.