Hoda Kotb shared some insight into her family life during her latest appearance on Today.
Kotb returned to the NBC morning show on Tuesday, September 22, to celebrate the release of her new book, Jump and Find Joy: Embracing Change in Every Season of Life. While discussing Kotb’s personal and professional “jumps,” Savannah Guthrie subtly brought up Kotb’s ex-fiancé, Joel Schiffman.
“There’s, like, a point where you had a big change, you went to a retreat, it was transformative for you, and then made a change in your romantic relationship,” Guthrie noted.
Kotb replied by stating that people can sometimes “get busy in relationships, and one day leads to the next, and a week is a month, is a year, is five years, is 10 years, and 20 years, and that can be beautiful, too.” She added, “I went to this retreat and had, kind of, an epiphany about my life. And I was realizing that you can love someone — I loved him very much, and still do to this day — but that person isn’t right for you in that moment. And you can say to yourself, ‘Wow. I’m ready to try to get other buckets of mine filled.’”
Another thing Kotb has learned, as Guthrie put it, through “some radical self-reflection,” is the importance of slowing things down. “I think sometimes we’re too busy. Like, I was too busy, sprinting. Now, I can feel my life slowing down a little, like, I feel more of a rhythm.” Kotb explained. “I have barbecues in the backyard, and Joel comes. We invite neighbors over. We have, like, kids, running around. There’s a dog. I have a dog, and I learned how to barbecue.”
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Kotb and Schiffman privately dated for two years before making their relationship public in 2015. The pair adopted their eldest daughter, Haley, in 2017, followed by their youngest daughter, Hope, in 2019. Though the couple got engaged in 2019, Kotb ultimately announced their split during a January 2022 episode of Today.
On Monday’s episode of Today, Kotb admitted it was “painful” to leave the series back in January. On the flip side, she’s grateful to be closer to her kids, especially since Hope was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 2023.
“Now, I’m home. If her numbers aren’t great, I can walk to the school. I feel relief just because of proximity, because I’m there, and it makes me feel like, ‘Okay. We got this,’” Kotb shared. “All things considered, that and being close by was the main thing, and it’s changed everything for me. It’s changed my peace of mind, made me calmer.”
Guthrie called Kotb “incredible” for how she managed Hope’s health struggles during her time on Today. “[You had] so many sleepless nights, when you would walk in here and still be your bright, beautiful, shining self, and I knew you had slept, like, two hours, up all night worrying,” she stated. “Now, you can rest. You’ve jumped. You’ve found joy. Home is always here for you.”
Today, Weekdays, 7 a.m. ET, NBC