Hoda Kotb, one of America’s favorite TV hosts, is a single mother of two girls whom she shares with ex-partner Joel Schiffman.
Kotb and Schiffman were together for eight years and engaged for two until they called off the wedding they initially postponed several times.
Now, Kotb lives in a loving home with her two daughters and is open to adopting a third child and finding love again.
Before Hoda Kotb made it big in New York, she was a local news anchor in New Orleans. While working there, she met a man named Burzis Kanga at a fundraiser for the American Heart Association, and they clicked.
They began dating until she got a job on “Dateline NBC” and moved to New York. They tried a long-distance relationship and dated on and off for several years until May 2005, when he asked her to marry him.
“She’s taught me patience and that no dream’s too big.” @hodakotb and @savannahguthrie reflect on what being a mom means to them pic.twitter.com/f1rFGG9YH7
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) May 10, 2018
Unfortunately for them, the honeymoon phase didn’t last long. It was fun in the beginning, but by February 2007, Kotb filed for divorce, and a year later, it was finalized.
It wasn’t just the divorce that Kotb faced during that time. She was also diagnosed with breast cancer, which she fought hard to beat.
The news anchor discovered her cancer accidentally during a trip to a gynecologist. Admittedly, she never had a mammogram and was grateful to have discovered the cancer early on when it was just at stage one.
Kotb stressed the importance of having a good doctor and one that you can trust. She entrusted her life to her doctor, and she walked her through that challenging phase one day at a time.
Thankfully, after surviving an eight-hour surgery and doing everything she could to heal, Kotb was deemed cancer-free. It was a bittersweet moment for her because while she no longer had to worry about her illness, her body had changed.
There were times when she had nothing on her mind than gratitude for being alive, but there were moments when she didn’t even want to look at herself in the mirror.
It was a challenging time for Kotb, but as her body began to heal, her mind did, too. She felt better about herself and was ultimately grateful to have a healthy body without problems.
After all the challenging moments, it took Kotb years to find love again. While at an event hosting people from Wall Street, she stayed a while to sign some autographs.
She had already been signing a few when a man appeared in line. “Who should I write to?” she asked. “And he said, “‘How about me?” to which Kotb replied, “How ’bout you?”
It was love at first sight for Kotb, and she couldn’t help but do a background check on the man. All she knew was that he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, and that was all she needed to want to learn more.
Kotb asked someone to do a background check on the man, who turned out to be Joel Schiffman. An e-mail was sent on behalf of the news anchor, and Schiffman replied.
They went on a date, and they realized they were compatible. Kotb and Schiffman kept their relationship a secret for two years until they realized they were getting serious. It was then that they let the world in on their relationship.
During their relationship, Kotb admitted to Zoe Ruderman of the “Me Becoming Mom” podcast that she had always dreamt of being a mother. However, after working hard on her career for years, she put it first, and her plans of having children were relegated to the backseat.
Kotb always thought she had all the time to have children once her career was stable. However, after her health complications, she was told that even freezing her eggs may not be viable.
At the time, Kotb’s reality didn’t sink in. It took her years to accept that she’d have to look for another way to have kids until she spoke to her then-boyfriend about adoption.
It wasn’t an easy conversation to open up. It took Kotb a lot of strength and courage to tell Schiffman her wanting to adopt a child with him, as she knew it would either make or break a family.
Before telling Schiffman, she asked him to sit with the idea for a while before deciding. However, when she dropped the news, she was surprised to hear Schiffman say: “I don’t need a week.”
Kotb couldn’t help but break down upon hearing his answer. A huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and her ultimate dream of being a mom was about to come true.
Her realization of wanting to have children at that point in her life came to light when she was out with a friend who assumed she didn’t want kids. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, I do want to have children, right now,” she exclaimed correcting her friend’s misconception.
In 2019, after six years and two daughters together, Kotb shocked her “Today Show” co-hosts when she announced her engagement on-air. She flashed her gorgeously huge emerald-cut engagement ring on-screen and savored the moment as all of her friends congratulated her.
Kotb let their viewers in on how Schiffman popped the question and left no detail out. She said they were on one of their usual vacations when after their romantic dinner by the beach, he said he had something else to say.
It was then that Schiffman asked Kotb to marry him, and of course, she said yes. They returned home as a newly-engaged couple, and Kotb couldn’t be happier.
The “Today Show” host’s job needs her to be in New York City most of the time, so it’s where she and her two girls, Haley and Hope, live. Their posh and homey apartment follows a cream-colored theme, accented with a rustic kitchen that livens up the space.
While Kotb’s kids have a playroom for themselves, she doesn’t limit them from playing wherever they want around the apartment. They were seen with a makeshift ice cream parlor by their dining room window, sticking post-it notes on the glass windows, and hanging balloons and paintings on the wall on several occasions.
The proud mom has a routine set in place for her and her girls. She gets up at 3:00 a.m. to head to work on “Today Show.” She doesn’t leave the house without hiding a note somewhere and a map of where her kids can find it.
When Kotb finishes work, she picks her kids up from school, and they have dinner together at 5:00 p.m. They then take their baths an hour later and dry off at 6:30 p.m. for some time to sing their favorite songs.
By 7:00 p.m., the lights are out in their household so that Kotb can get enough sleep before getting up at 3:00 a.m. again. She appreciates this routine, acknowledging that it won’t always be this way once Haley and Hope become teenagers.
The talk show host has revolved her life around her kids, and it’s given her so much joy. “Family to me is everything. Having one of my own is something I never thought I’d have,” she once admitted.
To Kotb, family always meant her parents and her siblings. Only when she was in her 50s did she realize she could have her own, too.
Throughout all the ups and downs of motherhood, Kotb embraces them all. Despite all the meltdowns and the messiness, she reminds herself that she’s lucky to be able to experience these things.
After being engaged to Schiffman for two years, Kotb made a painfully honest revelation on her talk show “Hoda & Jenna” about their separation.
During an interview on “Watch What Happens LIVE with Andy Cohen,” Kotb once shared that after planning a wedding and having all the details ready, they decided to cancel it and plan a new one entirely amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
After putting off the wedding several times, they decided to cancel it for good. Kotb and Schiffman prayed and discerned together before finally realizing they were better off as friends and co-parents.
Kotb was the first to smash rumors of abuse or infidelity, saying she and Schiffman ended their relationship on good terms. Speaking about it, she said:
“It’s not like something happened. They say sometimes, relationships are meant to be there for a reason, or a season, or for a lifetime. And I feel like ours was meant to be there for a season.”
Kotb admitted she initially did not want to announce her breakup in public, especially after sharing so much about it in the past. However, she knew that it was something she needed to release, and it gave her a sense of relief.
Nowadays, the TV anchor has chosen to focus on life with her two children. She had plans of adopting a third child, but because of the pandemic, it was postponed.
Despite all the setbacks, Kotb is still keen on expanding her family, whether that’s through a third child or through finding love again. “I feel like I’ll have future loves,” she said honestly.
She credits her self-awareness and her self-love for allowing her to let other people to come into her life. Kotb knows who she is, and because of that, she’s confident she’s able to handle any relationship that comes her way.
While her relationship with Schiffman didn’t end in marriage, Kotb doesn’t regret a thing, especially since it brought her Haley and Hope. Admittedly, she believes she wouldn’t have the courage to adopt if she were single, so the support of Schiffman meant a lot to her.
Entering 2023, Kotb allowed her good friend and co-anchor, Jenna Bush Hager, to set her up on dates. Back in January, she claimed she hadn’t gone on any, but she planned to go on some this year.
“I just feel that time will come for me,” she said in another interview. Kotb’s friends have been extremely supportive of her dating life, and they all believe that true love will come for her at the right time.
For now, Kotb is content being well and at peace with her two girls. Their welfare and happiness remain her top priority, and that’s something she and her ex-boyfriend are aligned about.
