Al Roker feels "blessed to be alive" after a health scare.
The 68-year-old TV star has served as a weatherman on 'The Today Show' since 1996 but had to take a two-moth break last year when he was repeatedly hospitalised over blood clots in his lungs before returning at the start of 2023.
He said: "I'm blessed to be alive. It's good to be back. I was more scared about the blood clots than anything."
However, the former 'Saturday Night Live' star - who has been married to ABC journalist Deborah Roberts since 1995 and has children Leila, 24, and 20-year-old Nicholas with her - went on to add that the "beauty" of the ordeal was that he was oblivious to it for the most part and now relies on his wife to explain to him what happened. before thanking everyone in his life for their support.
He told PEOPLE: "Here's the beauty of it. For the most part, I have no idea what happened. It's Deborah's narrative in a way, because I was laying in bed. And it's like, 'Okay, yeah, take some more blood. Yeah, give me a scan, whatever you got.' But Deborah was that rock and would liaison with the doctors. We're all just people. And at moments like this, everybody pulls together."
After he returned to his usual slot on 'The Today Show', host Hoda Kotb remarked: "When Al was gone, you knew there was this huge gaping hole, we love him" whilst her co-anchor Savannah Guthrie said: "We missed him so much!"
