Expanding her family! Hoda Kotb has often gushed about how her loved ones have defined her life — especially after the arrival of daughters Haley and Hope.
The Today anchor became a mother when she adopted her little ones in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Kotb celebrated the milestone with then-partner Joel Schiffman. The former couple started dating in 2013 and got engaged after six years together in 2019.
Over the years, Hoda credited mother Sameha Kotb for inspiring her approach to parenting. “She was a great mom. She was strict,” she told Today in 2016. “That was how we lived. You understood what no meant. There was no ‘But everyone else is doing it.’ She couldn’t have cared less what anyone else was doing.”
Hoda praised her mom for always being there for her, adding, “I think everyone needs an always. Someone who you look up and you say, ‘No matter where I am, no matter what I’m going through, no matter what I’m doing, I’ll look up, and there they’ll be.’”
In July 2021, Hoda opened up about her plans to potentially adopt another child with Schiffman. “Apparently it’s really slow during this time, during COVID,” she told Andy Cohen in an interview. “I thought it would be a different game. They said that a lot of people who maybe would normally feel like it would be something they’d want to do, have a child and then give it to someone to raise because they couldn’t, are holding onto things because they don’t have anything in that moment. So that’s what I’ve heard from our agency. Everything’s slow.”
The Oklahoma native shocked views when she announced on her talk show in January 2022 that she and Schiffman called it quits.
“Joel and I have had a lot of prayerful and meaningful conversations over the holidays and we decided that we are better as friends and parents than we are as an engaged couple, so we decided we are going to start this new year on our new path as loving parents to our adorably delightful children and as friends,” the cohost said at the time. “It’s not like something happened. They say sometimes relationships are meant to be there for a reason, a season or a lifetime, this was for a season.”
According to Hoda, the exes have continued to focus on coparenting their kids. “We have a really great working relationship when it comes to holidays,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in November 2022. “We speak a lot, and we make sure that we divvy it up so that it is great for him and great for us.”
The You Are My Happy author continued: “The ultimate goal is when your girls are happy. And that’s what we have. So they enjoy spending time with their dad and they enjoy spending time with me and everybody on my side. So it’s been really good [and] we have a nice mix.”
Hoda also discussed the lessons she was trying to instill in Haley and Hope.
“I think one thing I really wanna work on with my girls, too, is them having their voice,” she shared with Us. “[Teaching them about] being brave enough to say what they need, what they want and not to feel greedy or too much or too bossy. … I think I want my girls to be more vocal and to say what they want and not to be afraid and not to try to conform to be what other people want.”
Scroll down to see Hoda’s family album over the years:
