Hoda Kotb, 57, Recalls Emotional Moment She First Knew She Wanted To Be A Mother

Oct 29, 2021 by apost team

Hoda Kotb is a first-generation American broadcaster and TV personality. While her parents immigrated to the United States from Egypt, Kotb was born in Norman, Oklahoma, on Aug. 9, 1954. After rising to stardom on the NBC morning news show ''Today," Kotb has become a household name. 

These days, Kotb is raising and multiplying her family members together with her fiance, Joel Schiffman, as the couple adopted a daughter named Hope Catherine, now 2, in 2019. The girl is the little sister of 4-year-old Haley Joy, who was adopted by the couple on Feb. 21, 2017.

But Kotb's journey to motherhood hasn't been an easy one. After being diagnosed with cancer in 2007, the disease left her unable to have children of her own. Yet she still dreamed of being a parent one day.

In the years following her battle with cancer, Kotb has been candid about her experience. According to The Hollywood Reporter, at the Breast Cancer Research Foundation's 2017 symposium she said:

“Cancer shaped me, but it did not define me. It’s part of me, but not all of me. It just goes to show you that in my early 40s, I was sick, I was getting divorced, and I was in a job that I wasn’t suited for.” 

While battling cancer, Kotb split up with her then-husband Burzis Kanga. In the years following, Kotb wanted to be a mother but didn't know how her dream would come about in her situation. Not until she talked about it with her now-fiance, Joel Schiffman, in 2017. 

Kotb met Schiffman in 2013 and by 2017, she and the financier had moved in together. This was when the idea of adoption was sparked. Kotb has shared how tough the conversation was for her. She was afraid of starting the topic. She told her partner to think about the option of adoption for as long as he needed. Unlike her expectation, Schiffman was completely in tune with the idea, and he said that there was no need to think about it. She was in tears from the relief and happiness of his readiness and support. 

Kotb and Schiffman then got Haley Joy from an adoption agency in New York. She was born on Valentine's Day in 2017, and a couple of months later, the couple took Haley home. Everyone in the TV studio where Kotb shared her adoption story was in tears. She shared that she then felt full and fulfilled with Haley and Joel and their lives together.

When she took the new baby in her hands, she felt her heart growing in dimensions that she did not think possible until then. At the same symposium on breast cancer, which happened to be the year she took Haley Joy home, Kotb told the audience:

“I’m now 53 years old, I have a guy I love, a baby who is the light of my life. She’s so sweet! And [I have] a job that’s pretty cool, too, so 53 is awesome.”

What's more, in 2019, Kotb and Schiffman gave Haley a little sister named Hope Catherine in honor of Kotb's friend Karen Swensen who also has a daughter named Catherine. 

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The joy has been overwhelming for the whole family, including Haley, who is now a big sister. She even insists on feeding the baby. 

Since Kotb has been open and real about her experiences in life, her journey to motherhood was no exception. This led her to open up on a new podcast from People called Me Becoming Mom. In the episode, Kotb gives many anecdotes about her journey to becoming a mother, but one of the most moving ones is when she recalled knowing the exact moment that she wanted to be a mom. While walking with a close friend one day, Kotb recalls:

"I was actually with a girlfriend and we were walking down a street and I remember it like it was yesterday. Because I had never shared it with anyone that I had wanted — I still yearned for having children — because it seemed like wanting to go to the moon, it's not happening, so don't even bring it up."

She continued:

"So she said, 'Well, neither of us really wanted to have children.' I looked at her and I said, 'Well, I do.' I didn't say did; I said I do. She looked at me and she goes, 'What?' I started crying. I said, 'I do. I do.' I said it out loud, 'I do.'"

She adds: "It was so weird. It was an everyday moment that turned into an epiphany and I had never spoken it." By sharing her story publicly, Kotb is helping women everywhere to follow their own internal voice. The podcast Me Becoming Mom will feature all kinds of motherhood journeys including adoption, IVF, same-sex couples, single parenting and more. 

What do you think of the miracle and blessing of adoption? Would you adopt if you were in Hoda Kotb's position? Let us know your thoughts, and make sure to pass this along to your friends and family!