Jenna Bush Hager Gets Emotional as Savannah Guthrie Reflects on Becoming a Mom in Her 40s

Savannah Guthrie’s reflections on becoming a mother later in life brought Jenna Bush Hager to tears during a heartfelt conversation on Today with Jenna & Sheinelle.

On Monday, Sept. 14, the 54-year-old Guthrie joined the fourth hour of Today as a guest co-host and spoke candidly about raising children in her 40s. For Guthrie, motherhood arrived later than she had originally expected, but she now views the timing as one of the great gifts of her life.

“I had my babies in my 40s, which I think is a great time to have your kids. I mean, I didn’t plan it that way, but that’s how life turned out,” Guthrie told Bush Hager.

Guthrie shares daughter Vale, 12, and son Charley, 9, with her husband, Michael Feldman. She acknowledged that becoming a parent later in life comes with both advantages and challenges.

“There’s pluses and there are minuses, you know?” she said.

One of the biggest benefits, Guthrie explained, is reaching parenthood with more stability in her professional life. Having already established herself in her career meant she was not trying to balance quite as many competing demands as she might have faced in her 20s or 30s.

“I’d like to think there is a little bit of wisdom,” Guthrie added, before joking about one of the less glamorous realities of getting older: “you just get tired more quickly.”

A Motherhood Journey That Still Feels Like a Gift

Despite those challenges, Guthrie made clear how grateful she remains for the chance to become a mother.

“I’ll never be over it,” she said. “I’m so happy.”

Guthrie also reflected on just how late her journey into motherhood came. She had her son Charley and turned 45 only two weeks later, a milestone that made the experience feel particularly significant.

“I mean, I still feel like, just so profoundly lucky that I got to have my kids and I was so late in life to do it,” she said.

As Guthrie spoke about her children and her gratitude for motherhood, Bush Hager became visibly emotional.

The 44-year-old host jokingly apologized for crying, calling herself an “empath,” while Guthrie playfully agreed with her.

But the tears were also a reflection of a much deeper friendship between the two women — one that has grown alongside their experiences as working mothers.

 

Xem bài viết này trên Instagram

 

Bài viết do TODAY with Jenna & Sheinelle (@jennasheinelle) chia sẻ

From Next-Door Neighbors to Raising Their Kids Together

Bush Hager and Guthrie have shared much of their parenting journeys, having once lived next door to each other in New York City.

During the conversation, Bush Hager recalled visiting Guthrie when she was a brand-new mother.

“I got to come and sit on your couch when you were a brand new mama,” she said.

Their children also grew up together during their early toddler years, creating a bond between the two families that extended far beyond their work on Today.

The pair have previously spoken about how being next-door neighbors made life in New York feel smaller and more familiar, particularly because neither woman was originally from the city. Their children became close friends as well.

That shared experience became especially meaningful when parenting became demanding.

Bush Hager remembered one occasion when she was running late for a bus and called Guthrie to ask whether she could pick up her children, too.

“I’m like, ‘Can you please get my kids, too?’” she recalled.

That kind of support, she explained, made her feel more capable as a mother.

“It always made me feel more powerful to have you,” Bush Hager said, becoming emotional again before joking that she needed to take herself to “time-out.”

A Friendship Built Around Family

The emotional exchange highlighted how deeply the friendship between Bush Hager and Guthrie has become intertwined with their family lives.

Their children have grown up alongside one another, while the two women have supported each other through the everyday challenges of raising families while maintaining demanding television careers.

Bush Hager has previously described her daughter Poppy’s particularly close relationship with Guthrie’s son Charley. She recalled that Poppy would walk Charley to pre-K and said teachers viewed their connection as remarkably close.

For Guthrie, becoming a mother in her 40s may have come later than expected, but her conversation with Bush Hager showed just how much meaning she has found in that chapter of her life.

And for Bush Hager, watching her friend experience motherhood — from those early days with a newborn to raising their children side by side — remains something deeply personal.

What began as a friendship between two Today colleagues ultimately became something much bigger: two families growing up together, with the two women there to help one another through the unpredictable, exhausting and deeply rewarding journey of parenthood.