Hoda Kotb’s younger daughter, Hope, has been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
The broadcast veteran revealed her 5-year-old child’s health setbacks during her appearance on Wednesday’s “Today “show episode.
Kotb, 60, explained that Hope’s condition “definitely weighed in” on her decision to step away from her 26-year career with NBC News.
“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,” she said.
Kotb said her daughter’s health state made her rethink her priorities in 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,” she explained.
Fortunately, Kotb shared that Hope is “fine for most of the day.”
“There are just moments where you have to watch her,” Hoda explained. “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. So for 23 and a half hours, she’s every other kid. So I try to remember that.”
Kotb admitted, though, that she’s had to monitor her child 24/7 in an interview with People published Wednesday.
“She was getting shots — four or five a day — every day for a year,” she said, adding that Hope is a “trouper.”
“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,” she continued. “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.”
Nonetheless, Hope is “happy, healthy, [and] rambunctious” and isn’t defined by her diagnosis.
“Diabetes is a part of her but not all of her. I hope it shapes her but never defines her,” she said.
Amid Hope’s health battles, Kotb admitted that she is still working on figuring out how to make sure her eldest daughter Haley, 9, feels like she’s getting enough attention.
“I think anybody who has one child who has immediate needs, sometimes you have to really work on it [to emotionally support the other]. And I’m actually trying to figure it out,” Kotb said. “I just need to make sure that Haley feels seen and loved. I keep telling them my heart’s ability to expand is beyond measure.”
In 2023, Kotb was forced to be absent from the “Today” show for two weeks while Hope was hospitalized.
Although she did not reveal the reason why, Kotb shared with Page Six that Hope had a “long road” to recovery.
The mom of two adopted Haley and Hope in 2017 and 2019, respectively.
In September 2024, Kotb announced that she would be ending her career with the network, in part due to her desire to spend more time with her daughters.
Her appearance on Wednesday’s episode marked the first time she was back in the “Today” show studio since taping her last episode in January.
During the joyful reunion with her former co-stars, Kotb announced the launch of her new health app, Joy 101, which curates a personalized program to help manage the user’s mental health.
The post Hoda Kotb finally reveals daughter Hope’s mysterious health diagnosis appeared first on Page Six.
