Hoda Kotb Praises How 'Unabashedly Herself' Jenna Bush Hager Is: 'People Spend Their Whole Lives Trying' (Exclusive)

Bush Hager has shared intimate details of her life with viewers over the years, including dating while living the White House, getting sunburnt on a topless beach and going commando

Hoda Kotb has nothing but admiration for her Today with Hoda & Jenna cohost Jenna Bush Hager.

While speaking to PEOPLE for this week's cover story, the 59-year-old daytime TV veteran revealed she had the utmost respect for her co-host, especially because of her ability to share intimate details about her life without fear.

Over the years, Bush Hager, 41, has told Today fans stories about going commando when meeting King Charles, getting a sunburn on a topless beach while studying abroad in Spain and engaging in “hanky-panky” at the White House while her father George W. Bush was President.

Not only has she been an open book about some of her most "OMG" moments, she’s also been equally as transparent about her issues with fertility, body image and other sensitive topics.

“When I watched her drop those bombs on the desk, I was like, ‘Girl, what are you doing?’” Kotb recalls of Bush Hager in this week's issue. “But she’s unabashedly herself. People spend their whole lives trying to get there, and she is exactly who she is.”

Related: Today's Jenna Bush Hager Says Public Scrutiny Taught Her Resilience: 'I Don't Care What People Say' (Exclusive)

As for Bush Hager, who is mom to daughters Mila, 10, and Poppy, 8, and son Hal, 4, with husband Henry Hager, a financier, she tells PEOPLE she doesn’t give those things much thought.

“In fact I try not to put too much pressure on myself for perfection, because I’m nothing close to that. I find perfection to be wildly boring," she says.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Related: Jenna Bush Hager's Funniest Stories About Life in the White House

During their time on Today, Kotb and Bush Hager have grown into the greatest of friends. In 2021, the Read with Jenna book club founder credited Kotb for her big break while reflecting on the people who helped kick-start their careers.

"You just need one person to say you can do it, and my one guy's name was Stan Sandroni, and he was in Greenville, Mississippi. He hired me when no one else would," Kotb reminisced. "This guy believed, and that's so shocking because it was like, you just need the one."

Bush Hager interjected her cohost to ask, "Do you know who my one would be? You."

Related: Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager Celebrate 3 Years of Working Together on 'Today' : 'So Grateful'

The duo became emotional as Bush Hager explained that she had been working as a correspondent for years despite her hopes to become a host until Kotb invited her to the chair.

"I know that sounds cheesy, and I almost didn't say it," she confessed. "But I was here for years, doing a lot of different things, and I worked really hard, and I had producers say, 'Well, you're a correspondent. That's where you are.' And that was good. That was what I wanted to be. I wanted to tell stories."

"You asked me to fill in with you. And I'll never forget it, so my one is you," she said with emotion.

For more on Jenna Bush Hager, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here. 

Bush Hager also expressed her gratitude for Kotb in March after the journalist had to take a brief absence from Today to attend to a "family health matter."

"Hoda makes my life full," Bush Hager said at the time. "And it's so interesting, but you don't really know until somebody's kind of gone, unexpectedly, how much you depend on them."

"I mean, I knew I adored her, but I wrote her when she came back and I said, 'I don't even know if you know how much you impact my life,'" she added.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.