Al Roker Reveals What’s Important in Life as He Turns 70 (Exclusive)

Al Roker is keeping his nearest and dearest close to him as he celebrates his 70th birthday!

Following the surprise-filled celebration on the Today show on Tuesday, Aug. 20, the veteran broadcaster tells PEOPLE that he is prioritizing his loved ones following his health scare in 2022.

“At the end of the day, I think the people that are closest to you, because everything else can fall away, your job, whatever, but the people that matter are the ones that make a difference in your life,” Roker shares of what’s important to him nowadays. “And you don’t even realize that. It’s like that old Joni Mitchell song, ‘Nobody knows what they’ve got until it’s gone.’”

“And so having come close to having lost all that, you learn to really appreciate it. And it’s just the little things,” he continues.

Nearly two years ago, Roker was hospitalized and nearly died from blood clots that moved from his leg to his lungs.

Roker is now cherishing the simple moments with family, including wife Deborah Roberts and their two children, Leila and Nicholas, and his daughter Courtney, who he shares with ex-wife Alice Bell.

“I mean, driving with my daughter who lives in Paris, but she’s been here,” he says of his most cherished memories. “We were driving back home yesterday and something as silly as she was doing the New York Times crossword puzzle and asked me about clues and it just harkened back to when she was in middle school and high school. So all those moments are the ones.”

The weatherman also relishes “going to the farmer’s market with my son” and making him breakfast before he heads back to college. 

“Just the little simple thing of making breakfast for your kid is, you’re kind of grounded,” he explains. “And so those are the things I really like.”

However, Roker calls the celebration of his milestone birthday “a little embarrassing.”

“I am usually the one giving the party. I am the one usually surprising her or the kids,” he explains. “And even though it’s a bit of an irony, while I love being on TV, and I love doing what I do, from a personal standpoint, I don’t like attention.” 

“I tend to deflect. So when you’re forced to be the center of attention, I find it uncomfortable,” he adds.

Despite feeling a little uneasy about being the spotlight on his big day, Roker has learned to appreciate it.

“It’s taken me 69 years to get to the point you just accept it and be grateful for it and to have gratitude about it, that people care enough to do that,” he says.

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He is also grateful for the support from fans, especially those who stand outside the studio at Rockefeller Plaza in New York. He notes, “It’s lovely because they’re just out of the blue coming and making signs and doing all that stuff.”

“The idea that total strangers would come down and take time to make up a sign, and not have any profanity on it, is I think pretty special,” he jokingly adds.