No matter who you are, it’s always heartbreaking when a beloved family pet goes missing.
Recently, Today host Jenna Bush Hager opened up about the recent loss of her daughter’s cat, how their shared grief brought them closer together, and their new addition to the family…
Yesterday on Today with Hoda & Jenna, the fourth hour of NBC’s morning news program, Bush Hager opened up about some “heartbreaking” in her family.
“Our beloved cat, Hollywood Hager, went missing,” the host revealed.
Hollywood, a gift to her daughter Mila in 2022, escaped from the family home during a birthday party over the summer. The door was left open to accomodate guests coming in and out. While it was an accident, Bush Hager blamed herself.
“The guilt I felt around that… because I just felt like it was kind of my fault,” she told her co-host Hoda Kotb.
She said that her family has spent the last few months doing “everything” possible to locate Hollywood, but have had no success. “Everything you can think of.”
Jenna said that the loss was especially devastating for Mila, who she said loved the cat and would carry her around everywhere. But the loss unexpectedly brought the mom and daughter closer together: Jenna said that for the first three nights after the cat went missing, Mila slept with her mom, and the two had deep talks about life, love, pain and loss.
The mom said the heartfelt bonding came at an ideal time, as her 11-year-old daughter is about to enter middle school and “that kind of funky pre-teenage time.”
“And I know, some of y’all are just going to be like, ‘It’s just a cat,’ but what it is watching a child’s heart hurt,” Jenna Bush Hager tells the audience.
She then revealed some more positive news: Months after Hollywood disappeared, Mila has adopted a new baby kitten! “We’re going to have a new member of our household,” the host revealed.
The hosts explained that Jenna and her family made the decision only after months of grieving, and they haven’t given up hope of finding their long-lost Hollywood — on the contrary, they hope that the new arrival may finally lure their old cat home.
“Hopefully Holly will smell that little kitty and be like, ‘Who’s getting in there with my parents’ and come back,” Bush Hager says.
It’s always heartbreaking when a pet goes missing, but we’re glad the experience ended up bringing Jenna and her daughter Mila closer together and that they have opened their hearts to a new kitten. We hope Hollywood is out there safe and he’ll return one day.
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