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Hoda Kotb is a mom of two.
The Today show co-anchor announced the adoption her first child, a baby 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 were adopted, and I'm not sure if they 100 percent know what that means," Kotb said on PEOPLE's Me Becoming 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-fiancé Joel Schiffman. (The former couple called off their engagement in early 2022.) "I have two incredible children I share with him. And it's because of Joel that I have Haley and Hope, without question. I think I might have been too afraid to do it alone," she told PEOPLE.
Prior to welcoming her daughters, Kotb used to think having a family of her own wasn't in the cards for her. "Family to me is everything — and having one of my own is something I never thought I'd have," she added.
The news anchor explained, "I always imagined family as my mom, my dad, my brother, my sister. I envisioned it that way until I was 50. Imagine someone saying, 'Hey, guess what? You're actually going to have a whole other family.' It still surprises me! It delights me to know that I have Haley and Hope."
Since then, Kotb has shared lots of sweet moments with her daughters on Instagram and talked about them on Today with Hoda & Jenna.
Here is everything to know about Hoda Kotb's two daughters.
Haley Joy Kotb, 7
The Today star's older daughter was born on Feb. 14, 2017. While the Today host wasn't present for 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, 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," 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 birth feels like, and I bet it was amazing, but this was really close," she added.
Kotb later revealed on PEOPLE's Me Becoming Mom podcast that she named her daughter after Halley's Comet. "I knew her name was Haley. My sister and I, we'd talked about like Halley's Comet. It's like a once in a blue moon that something beautiful like that happens," she explained.
On an episode of Today with Hoda & Jenna in December 2023, Kotb opened up about how it felt to become an "older mom" for the first time at 52. "I am so happy and fulfilled with my decision that I don't feel any ounce of shame,” she said.
In 2018, the Where We Belong: Journeys That Show Us The Way author told PEOPLE that Haley's first word was "Bob." "We don't know who Bob is," Kotb admitted. "Every time she said it we kept laughing going, 'Who is Bob?' I'm sure it was a combination of bottle and some other thing."
The same year, Haley turned 1 while her mom was in PyeongChang, South Korea, for the Winter Olympics. Although they were apart for Haley's actual birthday, Kotb made sure to celebrate her daughter before she left.
"It is already Valentine's Day here in South Korea —- and i am missing my valentines baby👶🏼. We celebrated her bday before I left. Could have been better w camera placement. Love you little one," she wrote on Instagram.
Haley served as Kotb's inspiration for her children's book I've Loved You Since Forever, which Kotb called a "love letter" on Today.
The 7-year-old has also joined her mother at work on the Today show. Haley first visited the NBC show as a baby in 2017 and joined Kotb, Savannah Guthrie, Michelle Obama and Kelly Clarkson for an appearance on International Day of the Girl in 2018.
Haley embraced her role as a big sister after Hope arrived. Kotb spoke about her daughters' bond while giving an update on Hope in May 2019. "They're in love,'' she said during a call on Today. "They're just hanging out. She wakes up in the morning and kisses Hope, and when she goes down at night, she wants to give her a good night kiss."
At the time, Kotb revealed that Haley had called Hope "my friend." The news anchor added, "I just feel like she's got a life partner, and I can't tell you how that fills my heart to know that there's somebody [who is] gonna hold her hand all the way through life."
Hope Catherine Kotb, 4
Kotb announced in April 2019 that she had adopted her second child, Hope Catherine.
She later recalled in an interview with PEOPLE, "When I talked to [Joel] about two, I said, 'Hey, I want to talk to you about something.' I said, 'I really feel like [Haley] should have a sibling ... just to go through life with. It's a long life she's going to live.' I want her to say, 'That's my brother, that's my sister.' "
As Kotb recalled, Schiffman replied, "What took you so long?" She applied to adopt again nine months after Haley's arrival.
"Joel and I were standing there when they hand you the baby, and it's the closest thing to a live birth I think you'll ever see, but anyway in that moment, I was like, 'Oh my God, my heart just grew,'" Kotb told her Today co-hosts after announcing that she had adopted again. "It's amazing. Anyway I can't believe it's happening."
Kotb and Schiffman had already decided on their baby's name before Hope's birth. "The name came because there are a lot of women out there who are hoping that their day is coming too, you know, and I know the feeling of it not happening 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.
Hope celebrated her 1st birthday on Easter in 2020. Kotb commemorated the occasion with pictures on Instagram, which she captioned, "As my best friend @karenswensen said.. Hope blooms this Easter! Happy bday Hope! #1 ❤️❤️."
Kotb has described Hope as a "dream child." On PEOPLE's Me Becoming Mom podcast, the Today host said, "She is a dream child. It is as if they share the same blood. The same everything. She and Haley, they are intertwined. They hold hands. They don't let go."
In early 2023, Hope experienced health complications, causing her to spend time in the intensive care unit and the hospital. While Kotb did not provide further details of Hope's diagnosis, she was "over the moon" to have her daughter back home.
Later that month, Kotb gave PEOPLE an update on her daughter's health. "Hope's doing much better, much better," the mom-of-two said. "I think it's going to be a longer road, but she is doing great."
In August 2023, Kotb announced that she had written a second children's book, Hope Is A Rainbow, inspired by her younger one. The title is set to hit bookshelves on March 5, 2024, according to Kotb's Instagram.
"My daughter Hope is so inspiring to me,” Kotb told Today. "She’s a little child, but with a real kind of old spirit, an old soul. There’s something about her in how she sees magic in everything."
She also talked about rainbows and how she sees special meaning in them. “A rainbow to me represents something that you can’t quite touch, but it’s magical and amazing. So when I thought about how I carry Hope in my heart, I realized, ‘She IS a rainbow.’ She’s this beautiful, magical, incredible child. It just got me thinking about all the things where kids find magic and hope, and this book is full of that.”
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