A black eye won't stop Meredith Vieira from appearing on national television.
The veteran journalist filled in for host Kathie Lee Gifford during Today's fourth hour this morning and originally appeared on set wearing a giant pair of sunglasses.
"Okay, one question because you are so not pretentious and you have on sunglasses in studio," Hoda Kotb asked to which Vieira replied, "Well, you know why? Should I take them off?"
"I think it's time for the big reveal," her co-host added as Meredith removed her shades to unveil her large black eye on the right side of her face.
"Can you get a close-up," Vieira asked the cameraman before hilariously calling out the crew, "Did somebody just say 'ew'? Somebody just went 'ew'! That is so insensitive!"
So, what happened?!
"I went to the bathroom. I had to go to the bathroom and I didn't put the light on," she began. "And to get to the bathroom, you go through a little dressing room. And I had just come back from Los Angeles...and the suitcase is black, and the room is black—it's dark. I'm not really exhausted but I woke up and I had to pee.
"And I go to the bathroom and forget the suitcase is there," she continued before confessing, "And I fell over the suitcase and I hit my head on the rim of the dressing room table."
Ouch!
Vieira also admitted that her doctor told her to "watch out for myself" after Kotb shared Vieira's husband's recent blog post about his klutzy wife (Richard M. Cohen, her spouse since 1986, now suffers from MS).
"Meredith is a klutz, like a drunken sailor on a bender who collides with stationary objects and is a danger to herself," her husband wrote. "Last night, while paying a visit to the bathroom, Meredith fell over a suitcase, slamming her head against a dressing table as she plummeted south. The dog was so embarrassed for her he did not even bark. Must have been worried about what the neighbors would say."
Embarrassment aside, Vieira will make a full recovery (physically speaking, that is).
"I had a C.A.T. Scan and the doctor said 'Amazing, we found a brain.'" she said as Kotb laughed. "Because I had been there—the last time I went to the bathroom in the dark I fell into the toilet right before Sochi. And I hurt my back."
No wonder her hubby wrote, "It may be time to hire a sitter to protect the poor, dottering dear from herself, especially after dark. She is a highly paid professional who long has been a role model for others. Her work on 60 Minutes, Today and now her own show has been a beacon for other woman. A candle in the wind, I say, if she does not wake up and watch where she is going."
Be careful, Meredith!