Craig Melvin had a rare tearful moment on Monday, Aug. 17, while Jenna Bush Hager was presenting her “Morning Boost” portion on “The Today Show” and showed a heart-wrenching clip of her grandmother being present with her granddaughter during her last chemotherapy treatment.
Craig Melvin Reveals Why He Got Emotional on ‘Today’
GettyOnce it aired, Bush Hager realized that Melvin was becoming emotional after viewing it and mentioned it during the broadcast.
She asked him if he had the “Monday feels” and said that the clip was “pretty sweet.”
Her co-host, Carson Daly, chimed in, joking, “Look, he does have a heart!”
Melvin then clarified the reason he teared up and said, “Yeah, well, my mom rang the bell today, so yeah, that’s a good one.”
Daly replied that the segment hit home and that’s what Boost does best.
Craig’s mother, Betty Jo Melvin, also underwent a breast cancer diagnosis in June 2025 after going in for what she thought would be a routine mammogram.
Betty Jo Melvin Opened Up About Her Breast Cancer Diagnosis
GettyHis mother told WIS TV shortly afterwards that “Getting the diagnosis was not what I expected the day that I got it,” and also said that she was “speechless.”
She also had difficulty telling her sons, Craig and Ryan Melvin, about her diagnosis at the time.
“My youngest son, I lost my granddaughter to cancer, children’s cancer,” Betty said. “I lost my son to colon cancer about five years ago, so to tell them your mom has been diagnosed with breast cancer, it was hard. It took me several hours before I could call them and let them know.”
Her youngest son and Craig’s half-brother, Lawrence, passed away from colon cancer in 2020. Melvin has been advocating for early screenings for the disease ever since to commemorate his brother’s memory.
Craig loves his mother dearly and wrote a sweet post to her on her birthday that read, “Betty Jo Melvin is the rock of our family. She’s the glue. Please join me in wishing her the happiest of birthdays. I’m not me without her, and neither is my brother, her siblings, or grands. She’s sacrificed her entire life so that those around her can live better. The love that endures is beyond social media expression.”
‘Today’ Recently Faced a Scary Security Breach
The show also suffered a scary security breach back in July, when an intruder made it inside the NBC studios and lunged at Melvin. The anchor told fans at the time that he was doing “just fine” in an Instagram post. TMZ was the first outlet to report the news. The statement read that the team was cooperating with law enforcement to investigate the matter and that no one was injured during the altercation.
Fans immediately began blowing up social media since NBC had previously asserted that they’d ramped up their security following the abduction of fellow anchor Samantha Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother from her home five months previously. They also expressed their support and relief that no one was hurt during the incident.
