Months after she departed from Today, Hoda Kotb returned to the morning talk show to discuss her daughter, Hope, and her health diagnosis.
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During her interview, Kotb revealed Hope had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. She reflected on the 5-year-old’s health setbacks, noting the diagnosis “definitely weighed in” on her decision to step away from Today.
“As anyone with a child who has Type 1 [knows], especially a little kid, you’re constantly watching,” Kotb explained. “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 then said Hope’s health made her rethink her life priorities.
“I can be here and sweating what’s happening to Hope in the morning and in the night, I can be there and feel relief that I can see,” she noted.
Kotb further shared that Hope is “fine for most of the day.”
“There are just moments where you have to watch her,” she continued. “I was totaling it up- five minutes at breakfast, five minutes at lunch, five minutes at dinner,s 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.”
Hoda Kotb Revealed In a Separate Interview that She’s Had to Monitor Hope 24/7
In a separate interview with PEOPLE, Hoda Kotb explained that she previously had to monitor Hope 24/7.
“It’s kind of constant care for Hope. We’re monitoring her 24/7,” she said, noting that Hope is a “trouper” for dealing with the treatments.
“She was getting shots – four or five a day – every day for a year,” Hoda further pointed out. “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.”
Kotb then noted, “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.”
The former Today co-host went on to describe Hope as a ‘happy, healthy, rambunctious, amazing kid.”
“Diabetes is a part of her but not all of her,” Kotb added. “I hope it shares her but never defines her.”