Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager have Kristin Cavallari’s back when it comes to criticism of her 13-year age gap with new boyfriend Mark Estes.
“I do have to say, in her defense, whenever it’s the other way, no one says one word,” Kotb, 59, quipped on the Monday, March 4, episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna. “I mean, so what? They get on, right?”
The episode’s guest, dating expert Devyn Simone, chimed in to note that Cavallari, 37, is “having fun” and is “a successful entrepreneur.” Bush Hager, 42, added, “By the way, good for her. You go, girl.”
Cavallari made headlines last month after debuting her romance with Estes, 24, via social media. “He makes me happy 🤍,” she captioned a selfie with the social media star, who is best known as a member of the TikTok group Montana Boyz.
She followed up the relationship announcement by posting a spicy message via her Instagram Story. “You can be as naughty as you want just don’t get caught,” she wrote on February 28.
Cavallari made her Montana Boyz TikTok debut days later, lip-synching along to Jason Aldean’s “She’s Country” with Estes and fellow Montana Boyz members Kaleb Campbell Winterburn and Kade Cutter Wilcox. “Brother she’s country,” read the March 1 post’s caption.
Cavallari’s former The Hills costar Spencer Pratt shared a funny reaction to her TikTok post, writing, “If these MONTANA boyz had been on the Hills reboot with KCavi we def wouldn’t have been canceled.” (The Hills revival, New Beginnings, was canceled after two seasons in January 2022.)
Unlike Pratt’s lighthearted reaction to Cavallari and Estes’ relationship, some fans criticized the TV personality for dating someone more than a decade her junior. Responding to the backlash, Cavallari recently shared a TikTok video of her lip-synching to an audio that says, “So what are you going to do about it? Are you going to arrest me? Are you going to give me a ticket?”
She captioned the March 2 post: “When they’re all up in arms that im dating a 24 year old. Andddd?”
Prior to sparking a connection with Estes, Cavallari was romantically linked to Jeff Dye and Chase Rice following her split from ex-husband Jay Cutler. Cutler, 40, and Cavallari, who share kids Camden, 11, Jaxon, 9, and Saylor, 8, announced they were ending their seven-year marriage in 2020 and finalized their divorce two years later.
“I really think everything I’ve gone through has made me who I am,” she said of her marriage on a November 2023 episode of her “Let’s Be Honest With Kristin Cavallari” podcast. “And I mean, getting married, obviously it got me my three kids, but it got me to Franklin, Tennessee. It ultimately led me to launch Uncommon James because I was living in Chicago and really needed something to do. And I’m so thankful for that. That’s what I’m the most proud of professionally.”
Cavallari went on to note that while there are moments in her life and her relationships that she’s “maybe not proud of,” she ultimately doesn’t “regret anything.”
