Hoda Kotb Says She Once Had a 'Totally Sexy' Make-out Session in a Furniture Store

Hoda Kotb is reminiscing on a past public display of affection that could have cost her her job, but she says it was totally worth it!

On Friday’s episode of Today with Hoda and Jenna, the television journalist, 59, and her co-host, Jenna Bush Hager, 42, were discussing Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez being spotted sharing a sweet kiss on a sofa while furniture shopping in Los Angeles on Saturday. 

Surprisingly, that situation isn’t unfamiliar — at least for Kotb!

“I think I should confess that one time, when I was in New York here, living here, working here, and I was dating someone here, that we were in a furniture store and we had a full-on make out,” she told Hager. 

Stunned at the admission, Hager wanted to know more about Kotb’s definition of “full on,” asking if her co-host and her mystery partner went “all the way.” 

“No, no, no, but you know, like a real make out for a while,” Kotb said. 

Careful not to reveal details about when the retail rendezvous took place, she did admit that the spontaneity made the kiss briefly take priority over her career.

“It was so edgy because I’m like, ‘I could lose my whole job, and it’s happening right now,’ but I was kinda excited, you know that feeling?” Kotb continued. 

Although amused by her co-star’s confession, Hager added that nowadays, she’d likely save her hook-ups for a more private setting. 

“We used to [be like that],” she replied, referring to her husband Henry Chase Hager, whom she married in 2008. “But it’s like, at some point you can save that, you know?” Bush Hager said. “You don’t need to do it in the store, because you have your own bedroom.”

The couple shares three children: son, Hal, 4, and daughters, Poppy, 8, and Mila, 10. 

Kotb jokingly suggested that Jenna be a bit more adventurous and “stop acting like” she’s never had a bit of fun in her younger years. “It was totally sexy and a turn-on,” Kotb said. 

Kotb — who was married to Burzis Kanga from 2005 to 2008 — has two children, daughters Hope, 4, and Haley, 6. She became a mother through adoption in 2017 at the age of 52 following a breast cancer battle that left her assuming having children wasn't in the cards.

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"Family to me is everything— and having one of my own is something I never thought I'd have," she told PEOPLE last year. Coming off a challenging year — (she ended her two-year engagement to financier Joel Schiffman, 64, in January 2022) — Kotb shared she and her girls are "doing really well, and I feel very peaceful."

The couple weathered the pandemic together, changing plans for a destination wedding three times before calling things off, and Schiffman continues to help raise the girls.