Hoda Kotb’s 2 Kids: All About Haley Joy and Hope Catherine

Hoda Kotb is a mother of two children.

The Today The show’s co-host announced the adoption of her first child, a girl named Haley Joy, in 2017. (Kotb was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, which left her unable to conceive.) The TV personality’s family grew in 2019 with the adoption of her second child, Hope Catherine.

“I tell them they’re adopted, and I’m not sure they know 100 percent what that means,” Kotb told PEOPLE’s I’m becoming a mom podcast in 2021. “I always say, ‘You didn’t come from mommy’s tummy, you came from my heart.’ And they understand that.”

Kotb shares Haley and Hope with her ex-fiance Joel Schiffman. (The former couple broke off their engagement in early 2022.) “I have two amazing kids that I share with him. And because of Joel, I have Haley and Hope, no questions asked. I think maybe I was too scared to do it alone,” she told PEOPLE.

Hoda Kotb Instagram

Before welcoming her daughters, Kotb thought her own family was out of the question. “Family is everything to me – and having my own is something I never thought I would have,” she added.

The news anchor explained, “I’ve always imagined family as my mom, my dad, my brother, my sister. That’s how I imagined it until I was 50. Imagine if someone said, ‘Hey, guess what? You’re actually going to have a whole else family.’ It still amazes me! I’m glad to know I have Haley and Hope.”

Since then, Kotb has shared a lot of cute moments with her daughters on Instagram and talked about them Today with Hoda and Jenna.

Here’s everything you need to know about Hoda Kotb’s two daughters.

Haley Joy Kotb, 7

Hoda Kotb Instagram

The Today the star’s older daughter was born on February 14, 2017. While Today anchor wasn’t present at the birth, she remembers learning about Haley from the adoption agency “like it was yesterday.”

During a June 2023 episode of The Just B with Bethenny Frankel podcast, Kotb recalled being on the phone when she got a text message from her contact, Ashley, at the agency.

“I saw her name, hung up the phone, took out a yellow pad and wrote ’11:55. This is the moment where everything changes,’ I knew,” she said. “And 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 childbirth feels like and I bet it was amazing, but this was really close,” she added.

Kotb later revealed to PEOPLE’s I’m becoming a mom podcast that she named her daughter after Halley’s Comet. “I knew her name was Haley. My sister and I were talking about Halley’s Comet. It’s like when something so beautiful happens once in a blue moon,” she explained.

In the episode Today with Hoda and Jenna in December 2023, Kotb opened up about what it was like to become an “older mom” for the first time at age 52. “I’m so happy and fulfilled with my decision that I don’t feel an ounce of shame,” she said.

Hoda Kotb walks with her children. Hoda Kotb Instagram

In 2018, Where we belong: journeys that show us the way the author told PEOPLE that Haley’s first word was “Bob.” “We don’t know who Bob is,” Kotb admitted. “Every time she said that, we kept laughing, ‘Who’s Bob?’ I’m sure it was a combination of the bottle and something else.”

That same year, Haley turned 1 while her mom was in PyeongChang, South Korea for the Winter Olympics. Although they were separated for Haley’s actual birthday, Kotb made sure to celebrate his daughter before she left.

“It’s already Valentine’s Day here in South Korea —- and I’m missing my Valentine’s Day baby👶🏼. We celebrated her birthday before I left. It could have been better with the camera setup. I love you baby,” she wrote on Instagram.

Haley Kotb served as inspiration for her children’s book I’ve always loved youwhich Kotb called a “love letter”. Today.

The seven-year-old also joined her mother at work on Today show. Haley first visited the NBC series as a baby in 2017 and joined Kotb, Savannah Guthrie, Michelle Obama and Kelly Clarkson for an appearance on International Day of the Girl 2018.

Haley embraced her role as a big sister after Hope arrived. Kotb spoke about her daughters’ relationship while giving an update on Hope in May 2019. “They’re in love,” she said during a call to Today. “They’re just hanging out. He wakes up in the morning and kisses Hope, and when he comes down at night, he wants to kiss her goodnight.”

Then Kotb revealed that Haley called Hope “my friend.” The news anchor added: “I just feel like he has a life partner and I can’t tell you how much it fills my heart to know that there is someone [who is] I will hold her hand for the rest of my life.”

Hope Catherine Kotb, 4

Hoda Kotb Instagram

Kotb announced in April 2019 that she had adopted her second child, Hope Catherine.

She later recalled in an interview with PEOPLE: “When I spoke with [Joel] around two, I said, ‘Hey, I want to talk to you about something.’ I said, ‘I really feel it [Haley] should have had a sibling … just to go through life with. She will live a long life.’ I want him to say, ‘That’s my brother, that’s my sister.’ ”

As Kotb recalls, Schiffman replied, “What took you so long?” She applied for adoption again nine months after Haley’s arrival.

“Joel and I were standing there when they gave you the baby, and it’s the closest thing to a live birth I think you’ll ever see, but anyway at that moment, I was like, ‘Oh my God, my heart just grew,'” Kotb told her Today co-host after announcing that she had adopted again. “It’s amazing. Still, I can’t believe it’s happening.”

Kotb and Schiffman had already decided on their baby’s name before Hope was born. “The name came about because there are a lot of women who are hoping that their day will come, you know, and I know the feeling that it’s not going to happen for a long time,” Kotb said on Today.

Meanwhile, Hope’s middle name is a tribute to Kotb’s best friend Karen’s daughter, whose name is Catherine.

Hoda Kotb and children. Hoda Kotb Instagram

Kotb described Hope as a “dream child.” On PEOPLE I’m becoming a mom podcast, the Today The presenter said: “She’s a dream child. It’s like they share the same blood. Everything the same. Her and Haley, they’re intertwined. They hold hands. They don’t let go.”

At the beginning of 2023, Hope experienced health complications that caused her to spend some time in the intensive care unit and in the hospital. Later that month, Kotb updated PEOPLE about her daughter’s health. “Hope is much better, much better,” said the mother of two. “I think it’s going to be a long road, but she’s great.”

A year later, Kotb spoke about Hope’s medical crisis in a March 2024 interview with PEOPLE, calling it a “terrible strain” on the family. While she didn’t share her diagnosis, Kotb revealed that while Hope’s condition has since “stabilized,” she remains under constant 24-hour monitoring.

“Any parent who has been through a terrible thing with their child understands that. Like you just can’t believe your child is sick,” she said. “You can’t believe there’s nothing you can do. You can’t believe that no matter what you do, you can’t want to remove it or protect her, or all the things we as parents are supposed to do. And that’s a position I’ve never been in.”

She also praised Hope’s strength through it all.

“She just shows that when you have what she has in you, this will, this fight, this everything… . . she can endure anything. This child will have the easiest adulthood because she went through it early,” she said.

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Source: HIS Education