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Jenna Bush Hager Gives Update on Finding Hoda Kotb's 'Today' Replacement

According to Jenna Bush Hager, it may be a while until the fourth hour of Today picks a permanent replacement for former cohost Hoda Kotb.

“We’re kind of stoked just living in the Jenna & Friends era,” Bush Hager, 43, exclusively told Us Weekly at Kotb’s Joy 101 launch event in New York City on Wednesday, May 28. “We booked — I can’t tell you who — but we have amazing people next week, amazing, and amazing people the week after. And then, we have our summer booked, so we aren’t quite there yet.”

Bush Hager has continued to cohost the NBC morning show’s fourth hour, Today With Jenna & Friends, with a rotating lineup of celebrity guest hosts since Kotb, 60, exited the series on January 10. E! News cohost Justin Sylvester has become a fan favorite replacement, having hosted the show for several dates in February and April.

Sylvester returned to the show for a third time since Kotb’s departure on Monday, May 26. He will wrap up his four-day-long hosting gig on Friday, May 30. (Kotb returned to cohost with Bush Hager on Wednesday’s Jenna & Friends.)

Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager's Best BFF Moments Over the Years

Though Bush Hager remained tight-lipped on whether Sylvester, 38, may officially sit alongside her, she gushed about her current cohost and pal while chatting with Us. “I love Justin,” she shared. “We’re going to Beyoncé together. Cowboy Carter, let’s go!”

The duo was joined at Wednesday night’s concert by Bush Hager’s cousin Wendy Stapleton — who previously cohosted Jenna & Friends back in March — pal Jamie Alexander Tisch and Jenna & Friends executive producer Talia Parkinson-Jones.

Jenna Bush Hager Shares Update on Search for Hoda Kotb's 'Today' Replacement: Not 'Quite There Yet'
Hoda Kotb, Jenna Bush Hager. Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Joy 101

Before the group rocked out to Queen B, Bush Hager got emotional on Wednesday reuniting onscreen with Kotb for the first time since her Today exit. Kotb made her triumphant return to 30 Rockefeller Plaza to launch her new wellness brand, Joy 101.

“I was expecting to cry and I was a little bit like, ‘Don’t cry, don’t cry.’ But what can I do? It’s the energy,” Bush Hager said of sharing the desk again with Kotb. “She inspires me. I’m so proud of her, and I feel like that was part of the tears. They were happy tears.”

Despite the sweet reunion, Bush Hager told Us she’s happy to see Kotb living her dream post-Today. “We’re actually really proud of what we built over the last five months. And I miss her and I’m cheering for her in a million different ways, all the ways I can,” she said. “It felt so good to have her back, and also, I’m so proud of what she’s building. When somebody says bye, they say bye for a reason. I should have known that with my college boyfriend.”

Jenna Bush Hager Shares Update on Search for Hoda Kotb's 'Today' Replacement: Not 'Quite There Yet'
Jenna Bush Hager, Hoda Kotb. Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images

On Wednesday’s episode of Jenna & Friends, Kotb credited Bush Hager with inspiring her to launch her wellness journey after suggesting she take a breathwork class. “I did one session with this woman and I exploded in tears and I was transformed,” she explained. “And from that moment on, you and I have been on the exact same path. … And breathwork led to meditation and deep prayer. All the things that we love were all in one spot.”

Bush Hager went on to share kind words about her former TV partner, stating, “The fact that you are Professor Kotb of Joy 101 makes perfect sense. I think you’re doing exactly what you’re supposed to be doing, even though it feels like [hosting] is also what you’re supposed to be doing.”

© Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Joy 101

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Joey Graziadei Admits to Struggles in Kelsey Relationship After 'Bachelor'

Joey Graziadei is pulling back the curtain on his relationship with fiancée Kelsey Anderson after The Bachelor.

“It was interesting. I wouldn’t say it was all sunshine and rainbows,” Graziadei, 30, said on the Thursday, May 29, episode of NFL alum Isaac Rochell’s “I’ll Ask” YouTube show. “It was also really fun, too, [and] learning so much. You’re like, ‘Wow, I still really need to get to know that person.’”

Graziadei met Anderson, 26, on season 28 of The Bachelor, which aired in early 2024. They got engaged in November 2023 but had to keep their relationship a secret until the show aired the following spring.

“We always say we dated in reverse,” Graziadei quipped. “We knew everything about each other on a deep level [and] we knew that we had similar life goals. We felt like there was something here that was worth striving toward, but I didn’t even know how she was as a roommate.”

Joey Graziadei Admits ‘DWTS’ Was ‘Difficult at Times’ on Kelsey Romance

He added, “We didn’t even live [together]. Like, do they know what they’re doing in the kitchen? How do they clean up in the bathroom? So, we were figuring out so many small things about each other and still trying to put effort and time into that.”

After the show, Graziadei moved in with Anderson to her rented apartment in Louisiana.

“Kels came from New Orleans, where she was living with two other roommates and she had her own life and was working in construction project management,” Graziadei recalled. “She went straight back to work [and] was working full-time, and I’m sitting at home, like, passing the time, having to go around and do press in New York and L.A. There’s a lot of little things that people don’t realize that I have to promote this season [and] no one even knows who Kelsey Anderson is yet — even though this is the person that all I want to do is be spending time with.”

According to the former tennis pro, he felt guilty for “living this life of the Bachelor” while Anderson was still “waiting for her opportunity” in the spotlight.

“I just ignored everything and just really focused on what was most important to me, which was focusing on Kelsey,” he stressed.

Bachelor's Joey Graziadei and Kelsey Anderson Are Staying in LA After 'DWTS'

Anderson later joined Graziadei in Los Angeles when he moved for Dancing With the Stars season 33 last year.

“We were just new kids in love, just having fun and trying to figure out how we were going to start this life together,” he added. “It was exciting.”

The pair are hardly the first Bachelor couple to feel the same way. Season 12 Bachelorette JoJo Fletcher and now-husband Jordan Rodgers were candid with Us back in 2021 about the learning curve of life after the ABC show.

“There were so many reasons why we thought we should not be together,” Fletcher admitted. “I think, subconsciously for me, and for him, there was this pressure, not only from people that watch the show but, like, our family and our friends.”

Other recent Bachelor Nation couples, including Bachelorette season 20 couple Charity Lawson and fiancé Dotun Olubeko, have decided to take their time getting married.

“We’ve taken a pause on [wedding planning],” Lawson, 29, told Us in 2024. “For me, I got in this space where I just felt this constant pressure of, like, I need to check off something every month or every week. And it got to the point where I’m like, ‘I don’t wanna do that right now.’ I’m also still just easing into life and normalcy again. Obviously, we’re still getting married. We’re taking a moment, taking a beat.”

© Jerritt Clark/Getty Images for Tucker Wetmore

Jersey Shore's Mike Sorrentino Addresses ‘Outrage’ Over Chrisley Pardons

Jersey Shore‘s Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino served his time behind bars — so what does he think about Todd and Julie Chrisley receiving an early release?

“I can definitely relate to some of this story as I’ve spent eight months in prison for tax evasion. I also got two years of probation, 500 hours of community service and I completed everything including restitution,” Sorrentino, 42, told TMZ on Thursday, May 29. “For them to get released early, for me, that is good for the families.”

Sorrentino said he’s glad Todd, 56, and Julie, 52, are now “reunited with their loved ones,” adding, “I am not sure that anyone who hasn’t been in these shoes can really relate. I can definitely see there might be a little bit of outrage. But for me — someone who actually did prison time — I am not mad at it.”

In September 2019, Sorrentino was charged for failing to pay nearly $9 million in taxes. He completed an eight-month prison sentence for tax evasion. Todd and Julie, meanwhile, were indicted in 2019 on charges of tax evasion, bank and wire fraud and conspiracy. After being found guilty in 2022, Todd was sentenced to 12 years in prison. His wife received a seven-year sentence. The couple maintained their innocence and continued to appeal their sentences, which were reduced in September 2023 by nearly two years.

Celebrity Mugshots

Todd and Julie were released on Wednesday, May 28, after President Donald Trump pardoned the former reality TV stars.

Jersey Shore Mike The Situation Sorrentino Addresses Outrage Over Todd Chrisley Julie Chrisley Prison Pardons
Todd Chrisley and Julie Chrisley Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

“My parents have not spoken to each other, heard each other’s voices or seen each other in the past two and a half years,” Savannah Chrisley told reporters outside the Pensacola, Florida, prison where Todd had been incarcerated since 2022. “Their 29th wedding anniversary was May 25, so we’re only a few days out from that. So when they reunite, we’re going to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, Christmases, all the things, because we’re going to make up for lost time.”

While some fans have questioned the decision to release Todd and Julie before they served their full sentences, Sorrentino noted that he “would have accepted” a pardon if he was offered one at the time.

How Savannah Chrisley Helped Pardon Parents: A Timeline of Her Efforts

“But I wouldn’t go back and get a pardon because it made me a better man,” he added. “[Still], you gotta stay in your own lane and run your own race. When you get sent away to prison, it is not a good situation for yourself but the families. They get sent away as well to a certain extent and it is so very sad.”

He concluded: “I can see that aspect because I have had my freedom taken away from me. It was very detrimental to my family.”

Todd and Julie were able to reunite on Thursday, with Savannah sharing a glimpse of her parents together via her Instagram Story. A press conference is set to take place in Nashville Friday, May 30, to address the couple’s release.

© FilmMagic; Inset: Getty Images

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