Hoda Kotb is sharing which celebrities are her “dream guests” on her “Making Space” podcast.
The Today show anchor, 59, recently celebrated having her 50th guest on the hour-long podcast, which is released on Wednesdays. Ahead of the milestone episode, Kotb marked the occasion by opening up about the A-listers she’d love to chat with, one of whom is Sandra Bullock.
“I’ve admired her, and she so shaped the pathway of my life,” Kotb told Today of the Miss Congeniality actress, 59, on Tuesday, July 9. “I feel like I adopted my kids because I saw that it was possible through her at our same age, and I realized, ‘Wow, it can be done.’” (Kotb is mom to daughters Haley, 7, and 4-year-old Hope.)
She added, “I feel like we would have an instant, beautiful conversation.”
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Additionally, Kotb named Princess Kate Middleton as another guest she’d love to have on “Making Space.”
“I think she’s amazing,” she explained. “I’ve always thought about her because I feel like she’s full of goodness and grace. You watch how she’s even handling this chapter of her life and how she’s doing it her way … It’s funny because all my guests have been through hardship of some sort. They have kind of done things against the odds. I seem to be drawn to people like that.” (Princess Kate revealed her cancer diagnosis in March.)
Kotb also spoke highly of her “unbelievable” and “incredible” 50th guest, country superstar and Grammy Award winner Lainey Wilson.
“She’s one of these people who a lot of us felt like just popped up on the scene,” Kotb said. “I’m such a fan [of] people who had to kind of claw and scrape their way to their position where they are, and almost everyone I’ve interviewed is that.”
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Kotb – who has been a staple on Today for more than 15 years – also opened up about why she cherishes the longer interviews she gets to do on her weekly podcast.
“We’re limited with four minutes of airtime, which is great for a Today show interview — four or five minutes — but on the podcast, we get to really know somebody,” she said. “Not just know what they are about, but know their heart, know their soul.”
She added of learning about her guests’ life stories, “Imagine that privilege. I feel like it’s packed with life lessons, because I only get one life: mine.”
