Al Roker is one grateful grandfather!
During the conversation with party tonight the Today The show personality, 69, credited his granddaughter, Sky Clara Laga, as someone who helped him overcome his recent health problems.
Al Roker’s health journey over the years, in his own words
“It’s great for me, it’s great for me. I’m telling you, what kept me going was having a new granddaughter,” he said.
Roker said the best part of being a grandfather is that “you get to love them and then love them back.”
“If I had known they were this much fun, I would have eaten them first. They are the best,” he added.
Weather anchor daughter Courtney Roker and her husband Wesley Laga welcomed Sky on July 3. Shortly after her arrival, Roker said to his own Today co-hosts that becoming a grandfather was “magical”.
Al Roker and his daughter Courtney.
Al Roker/Instagram
“The thing is, everyone tells you it’s going to be ‘this thing’ and you don’t know; it’s like being told you’re going to have your first child. And then holding this little girl, knowing that almost 35 years ago I held by her mom? And here she is, 5 lbs., 15 oz. 19 inches long and just perfect,” he said.
Al Roker says he’s ‘glad to be alive’ as he celebrates 69th birthday with family and first grandchild
Last month, in a post on Instagram, he noted how he had babysat Sky overnight for the first time. He shared in the caption: “Perfect weekend. Thank you @ouichefroker and @thatteacherwhodjs for letting me babysit my little Sky Clara over the weekend. I forgot how hard it is for a 3+ month old to be alone. 24 hours without a shower. Wow.”
Roker then followed up the post by sharing a photo of a bottle holder sitting on his kitchen counter.
In November 2022, Roker was treated for blood clots in his legs and lungs. The hospitalization left him off the air for weeks and missed his first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 27 years. Later in May, he underwent knee replacement surgery and detailed the complexities of the procedure during a virtual appearance on Today.
“This one is a little more complicated because they call it an audit; it was a replacement of a replacement, so they had to take things out, put things in, so that was a bit of a problem,” he said. “So we were just hanging out. Resting, doing nothing – which I know is hard for many to believe, but it’s true.”
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The rocker then made an unexpected appearance on the morning talk show where he said he was “doing well” and called the procedure “the hardest one yet.”
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Source: HIS Education