Carson Daly Reveals How Losing Both Parents Just Weeks Apart Has Changed His Approach to Life

Carson Daly's mom Pattie Daly Caruso died on Sept. 17, 2017, followed by his stepfather Richard Caruso five weeks later

Carson Daly isn’t taking a second of life for granted.

The Voice host sat down for a chat with his Today co-host Hoda Kotb on Wednesday, during which they discussed their New Year’s resolutions for 2019. For Daly, the magnitude of those annual promises has changed a bit since the deaths of his mother and stepfather five weeks apart in 2017.

“I don’t want to get morbid, but you know I lost my parents [about] a year and a half ago, so in the new year, I think more macro now,” said Daly, 45, whose mother Pattie Daly Caruso died on Sept. 17, 2017, of a heart attack, while his stepfather Richard Caruso died that October after a battle with bone cancer.

“I think bigger than just the weight, the food — all that stuff is every day. We all struggle with that, we all do the best we can,” he continued on Today. “My new thing is compartmentalizing.”

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Hoda Kotb and Carson Daly.

The former Total Request Live host — who’s dad to daughters London Rose, 4, and Etta Jones, 6, plus son Jackson James, 9½ — explained to his Today co-host, “As a parent … We’re always looking so far forward in our calendar to find a moment of happiness, if you will, of relief from life.”

“My thing is just 24 hours,” Daly said. “Now I wake up and I’m like, ‘Thank you God, I got a new day, a fresh day. How can I be the best husband, the best father, the best coworker, the best fellow citizen? I’ve got today. I’ve got right now, in this moment.’ ”

“When I play with my kid, I play with him every day,” he went on. “Losing my folks, the fragility of life, we [forget] … it’s so crazy. I can’t believe I’m 45. I can’t believe I’ve been in Time Square for 20 years. I can’t believe I’m on the Today show.”

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Daly added on the morning news show, “Life goes by so fast that for me, now, it’s just like, live and marinate in that moment when I’m in a tickle fight. And then when I go to bed, it’s just like, ‘You know what? I hope I did good today and if God gives me another day, I’m just gonna do it again.’ ”

This past September, the star paid tribute to Daly Caruso in an emotional Instagram post, saying he’s still “reeling” from the news that his mother died the night of the 2017 Emmy Awards.

“1 year later I’m still reeling over the loss,” he captioned a photo of himself smiling alongside his mother. “I slept in the same exact hotel bed last night where I got the call. At The Emmys. Surreal.”

“I miss you everyday and love you always,” Daly continued. “I don’t know why you’re gone, but I’m positive we will be together again. This love is too strong.”