Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager were living the dream Friday when they welcomed a legendary guest: Oprah Winfrey!
Hoda had to dab away tears meeting one of her lifelong idols for the first time when the talk show legend joined them in front of a live studio audience on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna.
"You know when people say, 'You mean so much to me,' but they've never met you, and I know it always does seem a little weird, but this is really one of those moments for me, so thank you,'' Hoda told Winfrey.
"I watched you over the years. I watched you lift people up. There's only a couple people on the earth who you want to emulate in our business. I watched you hold people's hearts in your hand, and I remember thinking, 'How does she do that?' And you did it in such a way that was always so tender and real, and the fact that you're sitting here on this day is really kind of blowing my mind."
Winfrey spent an hour having fun with Hoda and Jenna and lifting up the crowd as only she can. She even gave the co-hosts some vegetables from her own garden.
She stopped by TODAY ahead of the latest stop on her nationwide tour called "Oprah's 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus," which will be in Brooklyn, New York, on Saturday at the Barclays Center with special guest Michelle Obama.
"What I thought was gonna happen was you look at a stadium full of people ... from all different backgrounds and representations and yet we come together with this one goal: to be well, to be better for ourselves and our families,'' Winfrey said about her tour. "I think there is unity in this common goal to want to do better in your life, and I think that means we're all still rising to the best of ourselves."
In the spirit of promoting wellness, Winfrey also listened to the weight-loss journey of guest Stephanie Magner, 24, who opened up about her mission to find self-love and the supportive community she has found online.
Winfrey also became emotional when she addressed the controversy surrounding good friend Gayle King, whom she said is "not doing well" and has to travel with security due to death threats in the wake of a controversial interview in which she asked WNBA star Lisa Leslie about the Kobe Bryant rape case.
King has been under fire since a clip was posted on social media Tuesday showing her asking Leslie on "CBS This Morning" if she thinks Bryant's legacy is "complicated" by the 2003 sexual assault charge in the wake of his death in a helicopter crash last week.
"She's not doing well and feels that she was put in a really terrible position because that interview had already ran, and in the context of the interview, everyone seemed fine, including Lisa Leslie,'' Winfrey said. "And it was only because somebody at the network put up that clip, and I could see how people would obviously be very upset if you thought that Gayle was just trying to press to get an answer from Lisa Leslie.
"Obviously all things pass, she will be OK, but she hasn't slept in two days,'' Winfrey said. "I think anybody can criticize anything, but the misogynist vitriol and the attacking to the point where it is dangerous to be in the streets alone, because it's just the people attacking, it's the other people who take that message and feel like they can do whatever they want to because of it."
Winfrey also dished out some fun facts about her life, discussed impactful moments from her career and gave her advice for young people during her visit. She also met with Maxwell “Bunchie” Young, the 13-year-old football star who stole Super Bowl viewers’ hearts in an NFL commercial.
The hour of fun and uplifting messages with Winfrey made for a time that Hoda and Jenna will never forget.
"We kind of dreamt of this day, and it eclipsed everything we thought,'' Hoda said.