Hoda Kotb is a mother to two adorable little girls, Haley Joy and Hope Catherine, and the Today Show anchor has been open about her struggles when it comes to adopting a third child with her fiance Joel Schiffman. Long before she welcomed her daughters, however, and before Schiffman proposed, Kotb was “terrified” to tell him that she wanted to become a mother – with or without him.
Hoda Kotb Reveals First Steps Of Motherhood Journey In New Podcast
In a recent interview on the new People podcast Me Becoming Mom, Hoda Kotb revealed that she was absolutely willing to leave her fiance, then-boyfriend, Joel Schiffman, if he couldn’t get on board with her desire for children. The mom-of-two admitted she was “terrified,” but determined to set out on the journey to motherhood on her own if Schiffman decided he couldn’t support her dream.
Doing It With Or Without Him
“I was terrified” of bringing up the subject of adoption to Schiffman, Kotb remembered. “‘How am I going to say this?’ I don’t know his reaction. I think what I was probably the most scared of was that I knew I was going to do it anyway.” She went on to admit that her “heart was pounding” and she was all “sweaty” when she first approached Schiffman with the idea of adopting a child.
“I said to him, ‘Joel, I have to ask you something. I haven’t been sleeping well lately because it’s been weighing on me and I can’t carry it anymore. So I’m going to say something to you and I don’t want you to answer me right now. I want you to sit with it and take your time. Don’t answer. Just take a week, take as long as you need,’” Kotb recalled. Obviously, this was very discomforting for Schiffman to hear, she continued. “He was like, ‘What is she going to tell me?’”
Despite her initial hemming and hawing, when it came time to get to the heart of the matter, that’s exactly what Kotb did. “I looked him in the eye and I said, ‘I would like to explore adoption with you.’” To say that without knowing what his answer would be, we can’t imagine the courage it must have taken for Kotb to admit exactly what was on her heart.
Though she was afraid, she still managed to be completely honest about what she wanted. She added, “There was like a second in there, I was like, ‘This is the end of a relationship or the beginning of a family.’”
Thankfully, the Today star didn’t have to wait long for Schiffman’s answer. “My heart was pounding and he just looked at me and he said, ‘I don’t need a week,’” Kotb said. “In that moment, I fell on his chest and was sobbing. He said, ‘I didn’t know you were carrying that.’”
That’s When She Knew ‘I Chose Right’
She continued that she realized at that moment that she made the right choice in a partner “because it was the thing that would make me the happiest on earth…I said, ‘I chose right. I chose a man who chose my happiness over his convenience maybe in that moment.’”
Now Kotb and Schiffman are the proud parents of daughters Haley and Hope, and the two have begun the adoption process on a third child, though that journey has sadly been delayed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Still, the two have been more than content with their adorable little girls, who are clearly the absolute light of their world.