Carson Daly Uses Snapchat to Talk to His Teen Daughter

Carson Daly has cracked the code on talking to his teenager — and it involves disappearing messages and a lot of emojis.

The 52-year-old Today and The Voice host stopped by Today With Jenna & Sheinelle on Monday, May 18, filling in for Sheinelle Jones while she recovered from a weekend appearance at the 2026 Momference conference in Washington, D.C. Sitting across from his longtime friend Jenna Bush Hager, Daly got refreshingly candid about life with four kids — and the creative lengths he’s going to just to stay connected with his 13-year-old daughter, Etta.

“I have a 13-year-old, Etta, who is doing great, who I never speak with,” he joked to the Studio 1A audience. “Do you speak 13-year-old? ‘Cause I don’t.”

His solution? Six months ago, Carson Daly joined Snapchat.

“You ever hear that phrase, ‘You’ve got to meet kids where they are?’ You hear it in business a lot,” he explained. “I’ve taken a page out of that and six months ago, I did join Snapchat. I have literally communicated with my daughter, in particular, more via Snapchat than I have in real life.”

When Bush Hager asked if it actually works, he walked through what their conversations look like. “I can say, ‘Are you okay?’ And then I’ll put some stupid emoji. And she’ll write back, like, ‘LOL,’ and all these little things are flying all over the screen.” He smiled. “As silly as it is, I am connected a little bit.”

What makes this especially endearing is that Daly openly admits he can’t stand social media. “I hate it,” he said. “When I play golf, I keep my phone in the golf bag now, and it’s four hours uninterrupted. It’s my favorite time.” And yet — here he is, learning Snapchat for a teenager who won’t text back.

He also shared a sweet moment from Etta’s recent Catholic Confirmation, showing a photo of himself, wife Siri Daly, and Etta at the ceremony. “There she is, confirmed,” he quipped. “So she’s in God’s hands now.” The audience loved it — and honestly, same.

College Visits and Keeping Up With the Whole Crew

Etta wasn’t the only kid on Carson’s mind. He also gave updates on all four of his children with Siri: Jackson, 17, London, 11, and Goldie, 6.

Jackson, his eldest, is now looking at colleges, which prompted one of the funniest exchanges of the morning. Bush Hager asked if Daly was going to get “weepy” when his son eventually moves out. His answer was a hard no — but not for the reasons you’d expect.

“Weepy? I’m looking for real estate around the university,” he said. “Every time we drive by LIU Post out in Long Island, I’m like, ‘Buddy, we’re gonna get a sick apartment here. We’re gonna hang out, it’s gonna be great.’ In my mind, I’m going with him to college. The reality hasn’t hit yet that I’m not.”

London, 11, is “doing awesome,” and little Goldie, 6, is apparently a full-time entertainment source. “A riot,” was Daly’s exact description.

Bush Hager noted that their youngest three kids are all the same ages, and that their families have gotten so close over the years that the children started believing they were actually cousins. “Our kids think they’re cousins, even though they haven’t hung out in a while,” she said. Daly had told her the same story back in November: “My kids thought, for a period of time, that Carson’s kids were our cousins. They were like, ‘When are the cousins coming?’ I’m like, ‘Which cousins?’ They were like, ‘You know, London.’ I’m like, ‘She’s not your cousin.’”

His One Dating Dealbreaker? Don’t Be a Picky Eater

The conversation also took a turn into parenting opinions that Carson clearly did not think through before saying out loud — and it was glorious.

“The only reservation I would have for my kids would be, like, a vegan or something like that maybe,” he confessed, as the backstage crew immediately burst out laughing. He caught himself: “Is that bad to say? Am I gonna get canceled for that?”

Bush Hager pushed him to clarify — were food allergies and intolerances included in this ban? He was quick to draw the line. “I’m not the devil! I don’t wish illness on boyfriends!”

What he does object to is someone who simply won’t eat what the Daly family is cooking. “Food is a really important part of the fabric of our family,” he said. “If we didn’t have food, I wouldn’t talk to my wife about anything. It holds us together.” He even invoked his Traeger smoker. “So if one of them brought home a date who was super picky — ‘I don’t eat anything, fish from the sea, cows that go moo’ — like, I’ve got a Traeger, bro.”

He painted the specific nightmare scenario: a Sunday family pizza feast, a new partner walks in, and announces they can’t eat anything. “I would just be like, ‘He’s a loser. Dump him.’”

It was a guest appearance that reminded everyone why Daly is so easy to watch — genuinely funny, clearly devoted to his family, and willing to be completely honest about the parts of parenting that nobody has figured out yet. Like speaking 13-year-old. He’s working on it.