The Today Show reporters, anchors, and correspondents are getting personal in their #InspiredBy series. On the segment, they open up about who has meant the most to them in their lifetime and on Nov. 14, Carson Daly opened up about his mother, Pattie Daly Caruso.
The Voice host and new Today Show correspondent in the Orange Room shared a special segment about his mother’s struggles with breast cancer and losing her husband, and Daly’s father, at an early age.
“I remember the day my dad died,” Daly recounted. “I went upstairs and the the room was pitch black, and my mom was in bed. Her way of trying to explain about the death of my dad was, ‘Daddy’s not coming home.’ I think I said something like, ‘Mommy, I wondered if I could please have Daddy’s money?’ She knew I couldn’t quite comprehend what was going on.”
But Caruso quickly became a pillar for her children.
“If I had any doubt about how we could go on, it was my kids that made it very clear we were going to stick together and we will go forward,” she said.
She later remarried, and one day when Daly was hosting TRL on MTV — the show that made him a household name — he received a tough call.
“I remember getting a phone call in my dressing room literally minutes before TRL started one day, and it was my mom telling me she’d been diagnosed with breast cancer,” he said. “I remember the sinking feeling, and I said I’m on my way. She said don’t you dare. You have a live show to do. She’s selfless.”
Wanting to stick around for her children, Caruso took the “aggressive” path and got a mastectomy, and she hasn’t looked back since.
“Her life is a constant example for me for how to bare that cross,” Daly said. “If you can make an impact every time you’re with a fellow human being, wouldn’t that be wonderful? And my mom every day makes hundreds of positive impacts on people’s lives.”
The TV personality, who now has two children of his own with fiancé Siri Pinter, says his mom has been the most motivating force in his life.
“Having a strong parent has been such an inspiration because it’s a constant reminder for me to find my own pillar of strength and to be that for my own growing family,” he said.
