UNBELIEVABLE: Hoda Kotb shares the HEARTBREAKING STORY she caused for Al Roker, leaving her full of REGRET whenever she mentions him
UNBELIEVABLE: Hoda Kotb shares the HEARTBREAKING STORY she caused for Al Roker, leaving her full of REGRET whenever she mentions him
Hoda Kotb is celebrating Al Roker turning a year older by sharing one of her favorite memories from his past birthdays.
On Aug. 20, Hoda wished the TODAY weatherman a happy birthday by recalling how one time she and her two daughters —Haley, 8, and Hope, 6 — accidentally celebrated his birthday during the wrong month.
“Happy birthday to @alroker … one of a kind! My favorite memory of Al’s birthday was when my kids and I baked him a cake…FaceTimed him with our party hats on.. sang happy birthday… he looked puzzled!” Hoda wrote on Instagram. “Later i learned that his birthday is NOT actually in December… it’s in august!”
She added, “Happy birthday— on time this year.”
Her post included a sweet photo of her, Haley and Hope FaceTiming Al, who was projected on their television. The trio all wore party hats in the snap as Hoda held up the birthday cake they made for him.
She also added a group picture of herself and Al with her mom, Sameha Kotb, and Al’s wife, Deborah Roberts, to the post. The third photo in the slideshow is an adorable picture of Al hugging Hoda’s daughters.
The birthday mix-up happened in December 2020, when Hoda and her girls wanted to bake a surprise for Al. In a video uploaded by Hoda at the time, Haley shared that she wanted to make a chocolate cake for her mom’s friend and colleague because she loved him and wanted to celebrate his birthday.
While her intentions were good, it was not his birthday. Hoda said that she thought an internal TODAY newsletter mentioned it was Al’s birthday, leading to the mishap. He later shared it was actually his assistant’s special day.
“I’ve been laughing all weekend,” Hoda told Al on an episode of TODAY at the time. “I laughed ‘cause you looked at us when we were doing the Zoom like, ‘What are you talking about?’”
Al recalled him and his wife being confused, adding, “I didn’t want to burst the kids’ bubble. They had done such a lovely job.”
Savannah Guthrie, on her end, quipped, “It’s the thought that counts.”
“Al, you are loved, baby,” Hoda said.
