Inside Hoda Kotb's Love Life Since Ending Her Engagement With Joel Schiffman

Hoda Kotb has some time on her hands since leaving NBC's "Today." She might be catching up on her social life, but we're more interested in her love life. Kotb has opened up about her dating experience since her 2022 split from ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman, whom Kotb was with for eight years, two years engaged. In early 2024, she told Entertainment Tonight that she went on her first date in two years since breaking off her engagement. Since then, Kotb has publicly revealed that she had a brief romance with a man, which she ended after three dates.

During an August 2024 appearance on "Jamie Kern Lima," Kotb said that she decided not to continue a relationship with him "because this person, who's a lovely human being, has a lot of, kind of, things that are being worked out, and I think ... what I'm looking for more [is] more kind of just simplicity." Kotb admitted that she tends to become "a fixer" in the relationship, and wants to change that behavior. "So that has been tabled beautifully," she said. "Nothing funky, all good. He's very cute, by the way. Extremely handsome."

Fans of the television personality are still holding out hope for her and Schiffman's reconciliation. So much so that a ring Kotb wore on one of her last appearances on "Today" sparked online rumors that the former couple's engagement was back on. As far as we know, Kotb and Schiffman are fine as friends and co-parents.

Koda Kotb has a few expectations when it comes to dating. In an October 2024 clip from "Today with Hoda & Jenna," which was posted to Instagram, Kotb shared an insight about her parents that gave her standards for her own relationship. "Ever since I was a kid — and this kind of shaped how I view men — my dad was always über polite," she said. "Like, to a point where my mother never — I didn't know she could touch a door handle. I never saw her do it. He did it every time. Not because she couldn't, but because he was saying, 'After you.'"

Manners don't negate her casual and relatable approach to dating, though. In terms of appearance, Kotb isn't looking for the Chris Evans type. She told "Today" co-host Jenna Bush Hager in November 2024 (via Hello! Magazine): "I think when you're with someone that's chubbier and less attractive, you just feel hotter. I do, I like that, I like that a lot." She wouldn't be opposed to a date with one of People's "Sexiest Men Alive," Kevin Costner, either. Hearing that she's been shipped with the "Yellowstone" actor on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen," Kotb teased (via "Today"): "Well if the viewers want it ... "