The Today Show is celebrating "Love Your Body Week," which is already a very personal topic...but things were taken to another level of emotional on Tuesday when the hosts' children were involved.
Hoda Kotb, Jenna Bush Hager and Savannah Guthrie all shared letters for their daughters about loving themselves and their bodies no matter what. Their words were intimate, sweet and powerful, and needless to say, brought the waterworks.
"My Dearest Vale," Savannah began. "I'm writing this letter to you because we are doing a series called, 'Love Your Body' week. I will confess just to you: That is something I have never been very good at doing. But I'm hoping I can teach you to be different."
She continued, "You don't know this yet, but our society is pretty obsessed with body image. Before too long (it's inevitable) you'll be bombarded with images of perfection almost nobody can attain. If you're like me, and so many women, you'll be tempted to judge yourself, to compare yourself, to berate yourself, to doubt yourself. I hope somehow I can equip you to withstand this assault on your confidence."
"I want you to love your body, not because of how thin or tall or pretty you may grow up to be, but because it is truly a miracle," she wrote. "When you think about your body, let's think not about how it looks, but about all the things it can do."
She then added her advice and concluded, "Be kind to your body, respect it and treat it well—this is the only one you'll be getting...And just so you know—you are, in fact, quite beautiful."
Hoda also penned a letter to her daughter Haley Joy, who she adopted earlier this year.
She addressed all of Haley's body parts and offered a piece of advice for each one.
"Your eyes: Use them to see the good in people and each day," she began. "Your smile: Share it often...Your heart: Listen to it, follow it and figure out what and who makes it beat faster."
She added, "Your skin: Strive to be comfortable in it your whole life...Your soul: Float next to mine forever."
And just when we thought we'd had enough, Jenna got us tearing up once again with her words of wisdom, which she passed along from her own parents.
"To my darling girls: Mila and Poppy," she wrote. "When I'm on the road, traveling away from you, I compulsively scroll through photos of you on my phone. I look at your eyes bright, your smiles wide, your skin pure. I have never seen anything more beautiful than the two of you."
She continued, "But, my darling girls, that purity and light I see in your eyes could one day be shattered by our world. You will see images on TV and in movies and magazines to which you will inevitably compare yourself. And you will feel that you come up short. I know that I did."
She recalled how her parents taught her to look in the mirror and like how she thinks, how she cares and how she makes others feel.
"If Daddy and I do our jobs, you will look in the mirror and always like who you see," she said. "Always know that just by being authentically you, you are more than enough. And my hope is that one day, when you stand judging yourself in front of a mirror, you can see yourself the way I that I see you."