Jenna Bush Hager welcomed her second guest host on January 14, just days after her friend, Hoda Kotb, exited the show.
The 43-year-old couldn’t have been happier to sit next to Eva Longoria on Tuesday at the Jenna & Friends desk as she prepares to welcome a slew of celebrities to help her host the segment.
Jenna gathered the crew around after the show to congratulate the Desperate Housewives actress on her hosting gig, surprising Eva with her sweet words.
“Can I thank the best for co-hosting,” she began as she beamed at Eva. “We adore you; you are welcome here any time. Your heart, all of it…you are the best.”
The 49-year-old star yelled, “I’m coming back!” as the crew chanted her name to celebrate her hard work.
“I made this friendship bracelet for you,” Jenna shared as she passed Eva the thoughtful gift. It’s clear that the Emmy nominee was a certified hit!
During Tuesday’s segment, Jenna recalled when her mother, Laura Bush, shared how much she loved Desperate Housewives while residing in the White House with her husband, George W. Bush.
Eva played Gabrielle Solis on the smash hit show from 2004 until 2012; the series won a slew of Emmy and Golden Globe awards and brought in 30 million viewers for its season one finale.
“Do you remember when my mom made that Desperate Housewives joke?” Jenna asked.
© GC Images“Yes, your mom put us on the map!” Eva replied. “Your mom said she was ‘the ultimate desperate housewife!'”
The former First Lady mentioned the show in 2005 when she quipped, “I am married to the President of the United States and here’s our typical evening – nine o’clock, Mr. Excitement here is sound asleep, and I’m watching Desperate Housewives with Lynne Cheney…ladies and gentlemen, I am a Desperate Housewife.”
The mother of one reminisced about her time on the show during Jenna & Friends, revealing that she was not prepared for the overnight fame it brought her.
“It was a decade of my life, and it was the number one show in the world,“ she said.
“I just remember the first time I went to London – I had never been to London before and there was a big crowd of people outside the hotel, and I was like, ‘Gosh, who’s here? Is Bono here? Somebody important must be here!‘ And the driver was like, ‘You‘, and I was like, ‘No, somebody like, big. Like a big deal!’“
“And he didn’t understand that I didn’t understand. The global reach of that show, at the time where there was no streaming,” she finished.
© GettyThe soap star is the second in the guest host lineup, following Taraji P. Henson’s stint on Monday; other celebrities due to join Jenna include Keke Palmer and Scarlett Johansson.
Jenna & Friends replaced the previous iteration of the segment, Today with Hoda and Jenna.
Hoda said an emotional goodbye on Friday when she left the Today studio for the final time; the mother of two shared that she chose to step back from the show to focus on her young daughters.
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