Hoda Kotb has revealed how her eight-year-old daughter, Haley, unintentionally discovered that her mother had breast cancer.
The former TV host, 61, reflected on her personal life and career during Tuesday’s episode of her former Today co-host Jenna Bush Hager’s podcast, Open Book. She opened up about her relationship with her adopted children — Haley and Hope, six — and how her eldest accidentally learned about her cancer diagnosis.
“I saw Haley reading my book, and there’s probably a lot of stuff in there that she doesn’t know,” Kotb said, referring to her newly released book, Jump and Find Joy. “And she’s like, ‘You had breast cancer!’ I’m like, ‘Oh my god, oh jeez!’”
However, Kotb acknowledged that when Hope read the book, their bond got even stronger.
“But the fact is, I think we’re knowing each other as people, humans,” she explained. “Not just mom, or authority figure versus child.”
Kotb was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and underwent a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery in March of that year. She’s been cancer-free since.
During her conversation with Bush Hager, Kotb opened up about making the time to “sit and have a real conversation” with her children, since leaving Today in January. She also said she’s been building a more profound connection with her kids.
“I feel like it did make space in me. Because it’s like anything when you’re crowded and you’re carving out small spaces for your kids or for yourself, even tiny little pockets, they don’t get enough,” she said. “I feel like my kids chose me, and I chose them for sure.
“In choosing them, like, parent them. Be with them. Don’t choose them and say, ‘Yay, I did that.’ And then off I’m going. You know?” she added.
When Kotb announced her exit from NBC, after 26 years, she said it was for the sake of spending time with her daughters, whom she shares with ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman.
“I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new,” she said on the long-running morning show last year. “Obviously, I had my kiddos late in life, and I was thinking that they deserve a bigger piece of my time pie that I have. I feel like we only have a finite amount of time.”
Kotb later revealed her decision to leave also stemmed from daughter Hope’s Type 1 diabetes diagnosis.
“It’s kind of constant care for Hope. We’re monitoring her 24/7,” Kotb told People in May, calling her daughter a “trooper” for dealing with the condition.
“She was getting shots — four or five a day — every day for a year. Now she is getting them less frequently because we have some other means to get her what she needs, but there’s a lot to it. Some kids can have sweets and she can’t. If she’s up in the night, we have to take care of her at night.”