eft red-faced during Wednesday’s show when music icon Mary J. Blige was forced to correct her about her own discography, when she accidentally referred to her second record as her ‘debut album’.
Jenna, 42, was interviewing the iconic singer alongside her co-host Hoda Kotb when she made the embarrassing faux pas, and Mary, 53, didn’t waste any time in setting the record straight – while also refusing to go into detail about her love life.
‘We have to talk about the fact that your debut album just turned 30,’ mother-of-three Jenna announced loudly, to which Mary bluntly replied: ‘Well, that’s the second one. What’s the 411? was the first.’
Trying to quickly move past her mistake, Jenna fired back: ‘Oh okay, your second album! Your second album! You’re right!’ as she glanced at Hoda, who was smiling awkwardly, before admitting: ‘We Googled it because we were like, “It can’t be 30 years old”.’
Mary J. Blige was forced to correct the hosts during an appearance on Today with Hoda & Jenna on Wednesday morning
Hoda Kotb laughed nervously as Jenna Bush Hager (right) made an embarrassing faux pas while talking about Mary’s discography
At one point, Mary refused to elaborate on her personal life when Jenna asked her if she was currently ‘dating’
Jenna continued: ‘You wrote about such important and also hard things,’ to which Mary replied: ‘I mean, the My Life album was was me just basically really crying for help and just wanting somebody to love me.
‘And it was a point in my life where I was just looking for love in all the wrong places. But at the same time I wrote a song called My life that relates to me right now today and scares the mess out of me because I’m like, “how did I do that?” because life can be only what you make it.’
The Queen of R&B went on to confirm that she still believes in love and revealed ‘that’s the only way I am able to be my own company’, before adding: ‘I am not going to give up on love. I am not going to let a bad relationship or bad marriage stop me from having a good life and having romance and getting the hugs that I want and desire.
‘You know, I’m not going to say, “I’m so hard”, no I want a man, I want love, I want it all and I am not going to let my past stop me from that. It’s because I love myself like that I’m able to draw things to me and I’m able to receive love that I know I deserve.’
Jenna then asked her: ‘That’s so smart. Well okay, so are you dating?’ to which Mary simply replied: ‘Yup.’
This led to more awkward laughter from Jenna and Hoda, as the latter commented: ‘We got a yep!’ as Jenna added: ‘That’s it! Let’s leave it at yep!’
At the beginning of the interview, Mary had to correct mother-of-two Hoda as well when she claimed that the No More Drama hitmaker had received a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame award.
‘Well it’s not even an award, I’m nominated,’ Mary responded. ‘It is an award because of the company that I’m in. I am nominated with Lenny Kravitz, Cher, Sade, Mariah Carey, Run-D.M.C… I mean, all these iconic people, you know, and me.’
Mary was promoting her Strength of a Woman Festival and said that her success over the years has not turned her ‘into an idiot or a cocky jerk’
Mother-of-three Jenna admitted that they had ‘Googled’ Mary’s second album to check how old it was
The singer married her manager, Martin ‘Kendu’ Isaacs in December 2003, but the couple’s divorce was finalized in June 2018
Mary continued: ‘It’s humbling and these moments keep me looking back like, “wow, Mary, you have come a long way. I mean, the company that you’re in in this category, is massive”.
‘So, yeah, it’s humbling. Stuff like this doesn’t make me into an idiot or a cocky jerk, it just really puts me in front of where I’ve been and how far I have come.’
When asked about her speech at the URBAN ONE HONORS back in January, where she she thanked herself after being honored with the Entertainment Icon award, Mary explained: ‘I never thought that I could, I never thought I was supposed to.
‘But after I have been through so, so, so, so, so much and come through so much gracefully, yes, I owe myself a thank you and that’s why I said I want to do something I have never done before, because I never thought that I could.
‘We grew up thinking we couldn’t boast or brag or, you know, love on ourselves and now I’m doing all that, I’m boasting, I’m bragging, loving on myself because I earned it.’
The native New Yorker also revealed that the way in which she talks to herself is very different these days, and explained what it is that she believes in herself.
‘I believe I am not perfect, but I am a good person. I always strive to do the right thing. I have a lot of integrity, I try to keep my word. I’m a great daughter and I’m a great friend.
‘I’m there, I’m reliable, I keep my word. That’s why I say I am a woman of integrity, and I am not perfect, but I strive to be better. That’s what I love about me.
‘I love the fact that I want to do the right thing, even when it’s hard. I want to do the hard thing, because it’s the right thing.’