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Al Roker Reveals the Secret to Improving His Health After Blood Clots and Multiple Surgeries
Al Roker is putting his well-being first. The Today host revealed the secret to improving his health and wellness — and it has everything to do with the latest addition to his family!
“I’m doing great, doing great. I tell you, the thing that’s kept me going is I’ve had a new granddaughter,” the meteorologist told Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday, October 31.
Al, 69, recently welcomed his first grandchild, Sky Clara Laga, who was born to his eldest daughter, Courtney Roker, and her husband, Wesley Laga. The little one arrived on July 3.
“We are extremely excited to welcome a new member into our family and start this next chapter in our lives,” Courtney, 36, told Today at the time. “We feel truly blessed and excited for our little miracle.”
The TV personality had a hard time choosing his favorite thing about his role of being a grandpa. He and his wife, Deborah Roberts, are always sharing the cutest photos of Sky on their Instagram accounts.
“You could love up on ’em and then you give them back … If I had known they were this much fun, I would’ve had them first,” he gushed. “It’s the best.”
For Sky’s first Halloween, her parents adorably dressed her up as a cloud, a precious nod to her grandfather’s profession. “It’s very sweet, so [I’m] very excited,” Al said of the gesture.
Al welcomed Courtney during his first marriage to Alice Bell. The Emmy Award-winning journalist is also a dad to kids Leila and Nicholas, whom he shares with Deborah, 63.
Just months before Al became a grandfather, he faced a health scare that forced him to take a break from his duties on Today. In November 2022, the weathercaster was hospitalized twice for blood clots and forced to undergo a seven-hour surgery to resection his colon, remove his gallbladder and repair part of his small intestine.
“I went in for one operation, I got four free,” he joked in January 2023 on Today. “So, I got that going for me.”
This year, on his 69th birthday on August 20, Al had a lot to be thankful for after his health scare and his recent knee replacement surgery. The dad of three called Sky the “best birthday present” in an Instagram post.
“This is my 69th anniversary of orbiting the sun, and after everything I went through at the end of last year, I am more than grateful to be celebrating this birthday,” he said in another video shared on his big day.
