Hoda Kotb 'blacked out' while meeting Tom Cruise at Paris Olympics

"I didn’t know what happened. I blacked out and then I had a picture."

Hoda Kotb is looking back on securing gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics. And by gold, she means getting a picture with Tom Cruise.

The Today anchor recently spoke to Entertainment Tonight during her birthday celebration about how her photo with Cruise at the opening ceremony materialized, sharing that she beelined straight to the Top Gun actor the moment she saw him.

"It was so crazy," Kotb said. "We were all together and 10 seconds later, I didn’t know what happened. I blacked out and then I had a picture."

Kotb shared the photo with Cruise at the start of the games on Instagram. "Do you know when you dream of meeting Tom Cruise… And then it finally happens," she captioned the post, which featured a soaked Cruise and her in a poncho.

"The poncho, soaking wet Tom Cruise shot was the shot of the Olympics. If there was a gold medal for getting the shot," Kotb's co-anchor Savannah Guthrie quipped to ET, adding of the moments leading up to the photo, "We were like, 'Where'd Hoda go?' and then she came back and was like, 'I got the shot.'"

A number of stars showed up to support Team USA at this year's games, including Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes, Jimmy Fallon, Charlize Theron, Serena Williams, and, of course Snoop Dogg, who was tapped as a special correspondent for the games by NBC.

As for Cruise, he was not just an attendee but one of the stars of the closing ceremony on Aug. 11, where he dove into the Stade de France to retrieve the Olympic flag and motorcycle through the streets of Paris as part of the big countdown to the Los Angeles games in 2028.

Over in the States, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, brother Finneas, and Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre put on performances in Long Beach, Calif., set to host several Olympic events come '28.

Kotb, who recently returned to the States from covering the Paris Olympics, just celebrated her milestone 60th birthday on Aug. 9.

“Some people, when they turn 30, are like, ‘Oh my God, I’m 30. It’s over. All my friends are married.’ It’s like, be real, man,” Kotb reflected on a special birthday edition of her podcast. "You’re on your own ride. You’re on your own train, and your blessings are coming when they come. Your blessings might come in your 20s. They might come in your 30s. They might come in your 40s. Mine started — started! — in my 50s. That’s when the best ones came. I can only imagine that my 60s are going to be filled with all of that goodness."

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.