Hoda Kotb’s Two Daughters Are Her Top Priority —Here’s What to Know About Haley and Hope
The former ‘Today’ anchor adopted both girls with ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman while in her fifties
Key Takeaways
- Hoda Kotb stepped away from Today in 2025 to focus on family life and her daughters.
- Her daughters, Haley and Hope, were adopted and remain central to her life off-camera
- Hope’s Type 1 diabetes played a major role in Kotb’s decision to leave the show,
When Hoda Kotb stepped away from Today in January 2025, she made it clear the decision was about spending more time with her two daughters. It was a heartfelt moment—one that left viewers both saddened by her departure and supportive of her next chapter. In recent weeks, however, Kotb has made a pair of welcome returns to the show. She first filled in for Savannah Guthrie during her family crisis, and more recently stepped in for her successor, Craig Melvin, while he was on vacation. With her brief return sparking renewed interest, we’re taking a closer look at Kotb’s life off-camera—especially the daughters who remain at the center of it all.
Get to know Hoda Kotb’s children
Over the course of her career, Kotb adopted two daughters with her ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman. The anchor was in her 50s at the time, which showcased her mission to make the second half of her life the best part.
“I said once to somebody, can you believe I’m 52 and I have a baby? She said, ‘That baby’s right on time.’ Now, I’ve started thinking everything’s right on time. You have to put effort into your life but it happens when it happens,” Kotb wrote in an essay back in 2018. “Now, I can’t believe I get to do it. I can’t believe I get to be a mom. And sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and wonder, is it true? Did it happen? Do I get her? Because you’ve lived 51 years without a child. You pop up out of bed in the middle of the night and go, ‘Oh my God! She’s right there!’ It’s like Christmas morning over and over and over and over.”
Hoda Kotb’s eldest daughter Haley Joy Kotb
Haley Joy Kotb was born in January 2017. Kotb herself wasn’t present for the birth, but she was alerted by the adoption company the second it happened.
“I was sitting there, and I was doing some phone calls with some nutritionist about something and babbling on and on. My phone beeped, and I looked at it, and it said Ashley, and Ashley was the lady from my adoption agency, and she said, ‘If I ever text you, you need to call me back immediately,’” Kotb said on the Just B with Bethenny Frankel podcast in 2023. “I saw her name, I hung up the phone, I took a yellow pad out, and I wrote, ’11:55. This is the moment everything changes.’ I knew it. I took a deep breath and dialed the number, and I said, ‘Ashley?’ and she said two words to me. She said, ‘She’s here.’ I don’t know what birth feels like, and I bet it was amazing, but this was really close.”
Haley is now eight years old and often appears on her mom’s Instagram.
Hoda Kotb’s youngest daughter Hope Catherine Kotb
Kotb’s youngest daughter, Hope Catherine Kotb, was born in April 2019. Hope is currently battling Type 1 diabetes, which Kotb has said was one of the deciding factors in her Today show departure.
“As anyone with a child who has Type 1 [knows], especially a little kid, you’re constantly watching, you’re constantly monitoring, you’re constantly checking, which is what I did all the time when I was [at Today]. You’re distracted,” Kotb said in 2025. “You just get a priority check in your life. I can be here and sweating what’s happening to Hope in the morning and in the night, or I can be there and feel relief that I can see.”
In that same interview, Kotb also shared that for the most part Hope is okay, but as with any diabetes battle there are good times and bad times.
“Hope is fine for most of the day. There are just moments where you have to watch her,” Kotb revealed. “I was totaling it up—five minutes at breakfast, five minutes at lunch, five minutes at dinner, sometimes overnight. Add that up, that’s a half-hour. For 23 and a half hours, she’s every other kid. So I try to remember that.”
As the search for Nancy continues, Woman’s World joins Savannah and her family in praying for her safe return. Anyone with information is urged to contact either the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900 or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or 520-351-4900.
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