On March 2, 2023, Craig Melvin revealed why Hoda Kotb had been absent from the Today show since February 17. “She's got a family health matter that she's been dealing with, so we look forward to seeing Hoda back at the desk real, real soon,” he said on air. Hoda returned to the show on Monday, March 6, and further explained her absence.
Hoda, who is a mother of two, was taking care of her 3-year-old daughter, Hope, who was admitted to the ICU. It is not known what Hope’s diagnosis was, but she is now home and mom is back at work. Hoda was so thankful for all the support she received during this difficult time.
"My youngest, Hope, was in the ICU for and then in the hospital for a little over a week. I'm so grateful she's home, she is back home. I was waiting for that day to come, and we are watching her closely,” Hoda explained on air to fellow anchor Savannah Guthrie.
"You know what I realized too, Savannah? It's like, when your child is ill, the amount of gratitude you can have for people who helped you out. So I'm grateful for the doctors at Weill Cornell, who were amazing, and the nurses,” Hoda continued.
Her gratitude did not stop there. “And I'm grateful for my family and I'm grateful to friends like you who were there every single day. So I want to say thank you for that. I love you,” she concluded.
Savannah was touched. "I love you too. You have a lot of friends out there. We are right there with you, lifting you up and holding you. So let's do this," she responded.
"It's nice to have you right back where you belong," Savannah told Hoda earlier in the broadcast.
Savannah also returned to the show on Monday, March 6. She left the show mid-broadcast on February 28 because of a positive COVID-19 test. Both ladies seem to be happy to be back to work.
Hoda shares two daughters with ex Joel Schiffman. She adopted them starting when she was 52 years old. Haley Joy Kotb is 6 years old, and Hope Catherine Kotb is almost 4.
Hoda opened up about the moment she realized she wanted to become a mom on the People magazine podcast Me Becoming Mom. It began when she was having a girls day with a dear friend.
"I was actually with a girlfriend and we were walking down a street and I remember it like it was yesterday," she explained. "Because I had never shared it with anyone that I had wanted — I still yearned for [children] because it seemed like wanting to go to the moon, it's not happening, so don't even bring it up."
"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,'" Hoda remembered.
"It was so weird. It was an everyday moment that turned into an epiphany, and I had never spoken it," Hoda mused.
"I was like, 'Oh my God, I do want to have children, right now. Here in my current state,'" she concluded.
Her daughters are the very result of that epiphany.
