Hoda Kotb was touched to learn she was part of it Jenna Fischer‘s breast cancer recovery journey.

“After my surgery, I’m recovering, I watched the Today show,” Fischer, 50, told Kotb, 60, during an interview on the Monday, Oct. 21, episode of Today. “I got up from the bed and sat on the bench at the foot of my bed with a cup of coffee and my big pillow, and I looked at you and Savannah (Guthrie) And Jenna (Bush Hager) and all the guys.”

Fischer said she knew Kotb was the person she wanted to share her breast cancer story with if she had the chance. “I know there’s a lady right now sitting with her pillow on a bench at the foot of her bed wondering, ‘What’s next for me?’” she said. “And I just want to be, ‘No. You’re going to get off that couch, just like me. You get your life back. You won’t even believe all the beauty and wonder that awaits you on this journey. ”

Fischer’s sweet story prompted an emotional response from Kotb, who is also a breast cancer survivor. The anchor smiled as she placed her hand on her chest and appeared to wipe away tears during her conversation with The office alum. (Kotb was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2007 and was officially cancer-free later that year.)

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Many celebrities have spoken out about their personal battles with breast cancer over the years. Julia Louis-Dreyfus made her breast cancer diagnosis public via Instagram in September 2017. Nearly a year later, she had successfully overcome the disease and returned to work at Veep. “It sounds a bit corny, but there is something about na (…)

Fischer’s conversation with Kotb Today It was the first time the actress had spoken openly about her health since she revealed her battle with breast cancer via Instagram earlier this month. In December 2023, she was diagnosed with stage 1 triple positive breast cancer after having a “routine mammogram” that she had postponed.

During her Today Fischer recalled breaking the news to her children, son Weston, 13, and daughter Harper, 10. “I wanted them to know that all the ways I seemed sick during this process were side effects of treatments,” she said. ‘It wasn’t cancer that made me sick. They were side effects.”

She also praised her husband, Lee Kirkfor his support during her health problems. “A typical morning for us would be us both getting up in the morning and making school lunches and going to school,” Fischer explains. “But given the circumstances, the best thing I could do was just go downstairs and sit at the table with a cup of coffee, and he would do the rest.”

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It’s been almost twenty years since viewers first followed the employees of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company on The Office. The sitcom, which premiered in March 2005, starred Steve Carell (Michael Scott), Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute), John Krasinski (Jim Halpert), Jenna Fischer (Pam Beesley), Angela Kinsey (Angela Martin), Mindy Kaling ( Kelly Kapoor ), BJ Novak (Ryan (…)

Another person who knew about Fischer’s battle with breast cancer was her former The office costar Angela Kinseywith whom she co-hosts the podcast ‘Office Ladies’. “From the beginning she said, ‘Whatever you need, tell me. I’m here,” Fischer said. “And I said, ‘I want to keep working and I don’t want anyone at work to know about it. But at work, I want this to be a space where we go and laugh, and I’m not a cancer patient. I need that.’ And she said, ‘Okay.’”

When Fischer started wearing baseball hats with wigs after losing her hair, Kinsey, 53, also started wearing hats so Fischer wouldn’t feel alone.

Twelve chemotherapy treatments later, Fischer is cancer-free. She told Kotb that battling cancer has given her a new perspective on life. “All the important things became so clear so quickly. And I will also say that I think the world is such a beautiful place, in all its quirkiness,” she said on Monday. “Even things that used to annoy me, I sometimes find charming now, like, you know, just traffic.”