Courtesy of Jenna Fischer/Instagram, Marleen Moise/Getty Images
Hoda Kotb Gets Emotional and Wipes Away Tears as Jenna Fischer Shares Breast Cancer Story on ‘Today’
Hoda Kotb was moved to tears as she interviewed Jenna Fischer less than two weeks after the Office alum revealed she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
During the interview, which marked the first time the 50-year-old actress opened up about her experience with cancer since announcing her diagnosis, the 60-year-old journalist clearly became emotional.
“After my surgery — I’m, you know, recovering — I watched the Today show,” Jenna told Hoda on the Monday, October 21, episode of Today. “I got up out of bed, and I sat on the bench at the end of my bed with a cup of coffee and my big ole pillow, and I would watch you and Savannah [Guthrie] and Jenna [Bush Hager] and all the fellows.”
“And you kept me company,” Jenna continued. “And I thought, ‘If I ever get a chance to tell this story, I want to talk to you because I know that there’s a lady right now who’s sitting on a bench at the end of her bed with her pillow, and she’s wondering, ‘What’s next for me?'”
As Jenna recounted the touching story, Hoda — who underwent a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery for breast cancer in March 2007 before being declared cancer-free — appeared to wipe a tear from her eye.
During the interview, Jenna explained that she went in for her routine mammogram appointment in October 2023.
“Three weeks later,” she shared, “they said, ‘Oh, your mammogram was fine. There were a few spots that were difficult to see. You have very dense tissue. We would recommend that you do another mammogram and maybe follow up with a breast ultrasound.’ I was like, ‘This is the appointment that won’t end!'”
At first, Jenna felt “no level of concern” when she went for her breast ultrasound, she said. However, they then asked her to do a biopsy, saying it likely was a “10 percent chance it’s cancerous.”
On October 8, Jenna marked National Breast Cancer Awareness Month by sharing with followers that she was diagnosed in December 2023 with Stage 1 Triple Positive Breast Cancer.
In her post, which included a photo of her with her new pixie hairstyle, she explained to followers that she “had a lumpectomy to remove the tumor,” adding, “Luckily my cancer was caught early and it hadn’t spread into my lymph nodes or throughout the rest of my body, however because of the aggressive nature of triple positive breast cancer it still required chemotherapy and radiation to be sure it didn’t return.”
After her interview with Hoda aired, Jenna expressed gratitude to Hoda and members at the Today show for their support.
Alongside two photos featuring her and Hoda, Jenna wrote, “A big thank you to @hodakotb and everyone at the @todayshow for having me on to talk about my journey with breast cancer. I hope that hearing my story will be comforting to any women out there also on this journey. I’m still walking through this every day. But there are more good days than bad. Being able to put my experience to use somehow helps a lot.”
She added, “And, another reminder to get your mammogram and any follow up tests your doctor recommends. 99% percent of women who receive an early breast cancer diagnosis survive it. Early detection is why my treatment was so successful.”
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Closer Weekly does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.
