Hoda Kotb Opens Up About Telling Her Daughters They Were Adopted
Beloved "Today" anchor Hoda Kotb first became a mother in 2017 at 52 years old, after a battle with breast cancer left her unable to conceive (via Parade). Since then, Kotb and her fiancé Joel Schiffman have adopted two daughters, Haley Joy (4) and Hope Catherine (2), and they announced at this time last year that they are hoping to bring a third child into their home and submitted another adoption application.
Kotb got real about her and Schiffman's decision to adopt a third child with Entertainment Tonight in October of last year. She shared the heartwarming message that she feels "like you get a limited of time on earth and your heart expands, and sometimes you don't realize your heart's ability to expand until you've filled [it] and sometimes you think you're at the top, and then you realize that there's more room."
In the past few years since her first daughter's adoption, Kotb has spoken openly about her family's decisions and what it's like raising adopted children. Now, she's opening up about telling her children that they're adopted.
Kotb told her daughters while they're not from her "tummy" they're from her "heart
On the October 14th episode of the podcast "Me Becoming Mom," Hoda Kotb opened up about the sweet way she speaks to her daughters about the fact that they're adopted (via People). Since Haley Joy is four years old and Hope Catherine is only two, Kotb said that while she has told them that they're adopted, she's "not sure if they 100 percent know what that means." She also explained that, "We haven't had the big discussions about it, because I think that is to come. But in this moment, they know that they are adopted."
Kotb told "Me Becoming Mom," "I always say, 'You didn't come from Mommy's tummy, you came from my heart.' And they understand that." As of July of this year, Kotb and her fiancé Joel Schiffman are still in the process of adopting a third child (via Today). She explained that while the process is slowed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she's following advice from their adoption agency to "wait wisely and just be."