Jenna Bush Hager got a late start on the Aug. 10 edition of NBC's "Today" show.
The 44-year-old missed her usual appearances during the show's earlier hours before joining Sheinelle Jones in New York City for the 10 a.m. ET broadcast. Bush Hager
typically kicks off her "Today" appearances with "Jenna's Morning Boost" during the 7 a.m. hour, followed by "Pop Start" and greeting fans at Rockefeller Plaza.But Bush Hager made it in time to cohost the fourth hour with Jones and explained her earlier absence.
"Well, I'm straight off a flight because I was in Maine with my family and my little nephew got baptized," she said, referring to her twin sister Barbara Pierce Bush's 2-year-old son, Edward Finn Coyne.
Bush Hager said she read a poem by Mary Oliver
during the service at a church that holds special significance for her family.
"Where I've gone with my grandparents my whole life, my kids were baptized there," she said. "I mean, there's something sort of evolutionary about looking up and seeing your twin sister hold this big old baby, and I couldn't help it. I was kind of weepy."
Bush Hager's whereabouts apparently became a topic of conversation behind the scenes, with members of the "Today" crew turning to Jones for answers.
"Everybody kept asking me… I mean, I'm not Jenna's keeper," Jones joked. "'Where's Jenna? Sheinelle, where's Jenna? Is Jenna gonna make it?' I’m like, 'Well, she didn't text me, so that means it's going to be just fine.'"
Bush Hager wasn't the only familiar face missing from Monday's broadcast. "Today" fixtures Al Roker and Dylan Dreyer were on a break.
Savannah Guthrie, who returned that morning following a brief absence, stepped in for Bush Hager's "Morning Boost."
Guthrie has been on and off "Today" while hosting NBC's upcoming "Wordle" game show. "It was fun, we had a little game show summer," Guthrie said of the new job.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jenna Bush Hager's late 'Today' arrival had crew asking questions
