Hoda Kotb is offering an update on her 5-year-old daughter Hope’s health battle.
Nearly two years ago, in February 2023, Kotb took an extended leave of absence from the Today Show to focus on her daughter.
At the time, Hope had endured a two-week stay in the ICU.
While Kotb has never shared the specifics of Hope’s health battle, in a March interview with People, she admitted it was one of the scarier moments in her life.
“We had a scary stretch. Any parent who’s been through a scary thing with their child understands. It’s like you just can’t believe that your child’s sick,” Kotb admitted to People.
“You can’t believe that there’s nothing you can do. You can’t believe that no matter what you do, you can’t will it away or protect her, or all the things that we’re supposed to be doing as parents. And it’s a position I’ve never found myself in.”
Now, while talking about her decision to retire as a host of the Today Show, Kotb is sharing an update on how Hope is doing.
In the interview published on Oct. 9, Kotb told People they’re “in a place where Hope is thriving.”
“She is improving, we’re watching her, and I think that as time goes on, we’ll have a better handle on it, but we’re already seeing great differences. We have really excellent care, I have people who are helping us out. I feel like she is finding steady footing.”
When asked if Kotb’s decision to leave the show was also influenced by Hope’s health struggles, the mom of two said, “I’ve had yearnings.”
“You know when something’s pulling you?” Hoda told People. “It’s like you either go toward it or you shove it down and say, ‘Nope, this is the way. I’m going to stay here because it’s safe.’”
Kotb continued, telling People that it absolutely makes “more sense to stay at NBC. I’m financially secure and I would have job security. I mean, why would you ever not do that? But I’ve been watching my kids and I was thinking to myself, I wonder what I’m missing?”
It was that question that made her realize she wanted life to be different after celebrating her 60th birthday on the Today Show plaza.
“I knew that I wanted this decade to be different,” Hoda explained. “I looked at my time like a pie. I was like, this is how much time I get, and now what am I going to do with it and how am I going to carve it up? And I wanted it to be filled with more of them.”
In the end, it was making sure she was giving more of herself to her life at home that was the most important thing to her.
“There’s the guilt you carry because you can’t be 100 percent at work and 100 percent at home,” she told People. “Something has to give if you want excellence. If you’re going to be excellent at work, something has to give at home. And if you want to be excellent at home, I mean excellent, and do all the things, something has to give at work. It can’t be equal.”
Kotb announced on Sept. 26 that she would be leaving Today in January 2025.
In the letter she shared with her colleagues, Kotb wrote about the moment it all became clear to her. “My sixtieth birthday celebration on the Plaza felt like a shift. Like a massive, joyful YES, you are!”
“I saw it all so clearly: my broadcast career has been beyond meaningful, a new decade of my life lies ahead, and now my daughters and my mom need and deserve a bigger slice of my time pie. I will miss you all desperately, but I’m ready and excited.”