Kotb's latest children's book is named for her 4-year-old daughter, who was hospitalized at this time last year.
Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager couldn't hold back their tears during the Today show on Wednesday.
The co-hosts were celebrating the release of Kotb's new children's book, Hope Is a Rainbow, and couldn't help but get emotional when they talked about the inspiration behind the story: Kotb's 4-year-old daughter, Hope.
Kotb adopted her younger daughter as an infant in 2019, and admitted, "Naming her Hope was something that I had thought about long before she came along -- I didn't know that she was going to so grow into her name."
Hope was hospitalized last year, and her mother took a leave of absence from her morning show to be by her side. She later shared with viewers that the toddler had been "in the ICU for a few days and in the hospital for more than a week" with an undisclosed condition.
In the year since, Kotb said, her daughter has "overcome" so much, and in a recent birthday letter -- a tradition the TV host saves to give to her children when they are older -- she said she praised her younger daughter for how far she's come.
"I was just talking about how incredible and resilient she is and what she's overcome in the past year and how she's braver than she ever imagined," she shared.
The tears started when Bush Hager turned Kotb's own words back on her.
"You are stronger than you were a year ago," she told her co-host. "You are braver than you ever thought possible. You can do so much and you're also softer, more gentle, more open... I was listening to you [talk about Hope] and I'm like, she's also talking about herself."
"Isn't that weird how our kids bring us to this place where we are better than we were before?" she added.
However, the waterworks really started in full when Bush Hager surprised Kotb with a video of Hope celebrating the release of her namesake book.
"I'm so excited for my book to come out and I love it!" Hope shared in the cute clip. "I know I'm enough, because my mommy loves me."
"That was really not nice," Kotb said of the surprise as she and her co-host both burst into tears.
When she returned to Today exactly a year ago today, Kotb -- who also has a 7-year-old daughter, Haley -- did not share the reason for her daughter's hospitalization, but merely her thanks to the doctors and medical staff that helped her, as well as her Today family for their support.
"When your child is ill, the amount of gratitude you can have for people who helped you out... I'm grateful for the doctors, who were amazing, and the nurses. And I'm grateful to my family, and I'm grateful to friends like you, who were there every single day," she shared.
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