Hoda Kotb recalls old boss encouraging her to ‘get on the treadmill’

Hoda Kotb claims one of her old bosses once urged her to get in shape.

During Monday’s “Today with Hoda and Jenna,” the TV personality was chatting with co-host Jenna Bush Hager about how actor Timothée Chalamet allegedly lost certain parts for not having “the right body.”

Kotb said she related to the “Dune” actor as she, too, had people telling her there were “things that [I’m] not right for.”

Hoda Kotb claimed an old boss encouraged her to lose weight on Monday’s episode of “Today with Hoda and Jenna.” Today/NBC The “Today” show co-anchor, pictured here in June 2023, explained that it was one of her first jobs out of college at a local news station. Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images

“I still remember I had just started working at a small market, and I played basketball in high school, so I always assumed I was in shape even though literally after college and stuff, I wasn’t,” she began.

“I still remember my boss going to me, ‘Hey, Hoda,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah?’ He goes, ‘Hey, I got an idea –– maybe you might wanna try to get on the treadmill.’”

Bush Hager appeared shocked and gasped, “No!”

Kotb’s co-host, Jenna Bush Hager, appeared shocked by the revelation. Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images “I was like, ‘What are you talking about?'” Kotb remembered thinking. Getty Images

“Yeah,” Kotb, 60, continued. “He said it like that, and I go, ‘What?’ Like, you know when you have a perception of yourself that is not the perception in the real world?”

Bush Hager, 43, understood what Kotb was saying and joked that it was called “reverse body dysmorphia,” referring to the opposite of a mental health condition where a person fixates on a distorted physical appearance.

“Yeah, so I was like, ‘What are you talking about?'” Kotb recalled. “But, if you don’t fit, they want you to wear something a certain way, cut your hair a certain way, speak a certain way.”

The mom of two didn’t divulgue which boss it was. Instagram/hodakotb Kotb, pictured here in 2016, bopped around a few local news stations before beginning her NBC career in 1998. GC Images

Bush Hager then brought up how she was originally asked to refrain from saying “y’all” on the “Today” show, but she quickly noticed she couldn’t “pretend” to be a “serious news person” and started saying the conjunction.

“I think you know when you’re pretending deep down and no matter what it is, you start losing who you are,” Kotb concluded, while clarifying that there are “sometimes” things people have to do to “fit into a work environment.”

Kotb didn’t share the name of her boss of which station she was working at when the situation occurred. Prior to her gig with NBC for the last 26 years, Kotb worked at a CBS local affiliate in Greenville, Miss., after graduating from Virginia Tech in 1986.

The former first daughter recalled originally not being able to say “y’all” on “Today.” Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images Bush Hager has also spoken out about her own body-shaming experiences. Nathan Congleton/NBC

She went on to work at an ABC affiliate in Moline, Ill., for a year and then a CBS affiliate in Fort Myers, Flor., for two years before becoming a local favorite at the CBS affiliate in New Orleans, La., from 1992 to 1998.

The “Hope is a Rainbow” author eventually joined the NBC team in 1998 with “Dateline NBC” before snagging “Today with Kathie Lee [Gifford] and Hoda” in 2008 and the “Today” show in 2018.

Both Kotb and Bush Hager have discussed their struggles with body acceptance over the years. Bush Hager has previously reflected on being dumped after a boy saw her in a swimsuit and even her late grandmother, former first lady Barbara Bush, telling her she looked “chubby” as a child.

Bush Hager has discussed the importance of being a good “model” for her kids and loving her body. Nathan Congleton/NBC “We want kids that are kind,” Bush Hager said last year. “The way you do that is model it.” Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images

“I feel like even sometimes now when I feel great — I have three kids, three C-sections, I feel really in my body and I think of it as a beautiful thing — I’ll walk in a pool and have a moment,” she admitted on “Today with Hoda and Jenna” in April 2023. 

However, Bush Hager –– who shares three kids with husband Henry Hager –– clarified that she’s trying to “model” loving herself so she can raise three “loving” kids.

“All we want is loving children. We don’t need the star kid … we want kids that are kind,” she added. “The way you do that is model it.”