Hoda Kotb is down to her final weeks on Today and is preparing to finally bid the morning show farewell. After her exit, she has many plans, but could walking the aisle be one of them?
On the Dec. 11 episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna, the 60-year-old divorced show anchor set the record straight if she’s open to tying the knot for a second time: “Would you like to have a small wedding or a large wedding one day?” Jenna Bush Hager, 43, asked her co-host. Without skipping a beat, Kotb responded, “When that day comes, probably a small [wedding].”
Bush Hager raised the question while they were discussing the rising trend of “micro weddings” or intimate matrimonial ceremonies with less than 30 guests. So hearing Kotb’s response, Bush Hager couldn’t help but remind the retiring anchor that she should invite her as well: “Don’t forget about me. Don’t move on to your health and wellness and invite all your gurus and forget about me,” Bush Hager said.
According to Us Weekly, Kotb’s preference for simple weddings has remained unchanged since she tied the knot with her ex-husband, Burzis Kanga, in 2005: “I did a destination wedding. It wasn’t small, but it wasn’t huge,” she said in the recent episode.
Details about her first wedding are scarce, but Closer Weekly disclosed that it happened in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Kotb and Kanga divorced three years later, and the TV personality went on to date Joel Schiffman in 2013. However, they did not make their relationship public until 2015.
Kotb looked like she was ready to settle down with Schiffman since the two even adopted two daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope 5, in 2017 and 2019, respectively. They also got engaged in November 2019. However, in February 2022, Kotb announced on her morning show that they had decided to call it quits after eight years.
“Joel and I have had a lot of prayerful and meaningful conversations over the holidays, and we decided that we are better as friends and parents than we are as an engaged couple,” she said at the time. She then insisted that they would move forward without animosity because they broke up amicably.
In November of that same year, Kotb told Us Weekly that they were prioritizing co-parenting their daughters. “The ultimate goal is when your girls are happy. That’s what we both say, ‘Happy girls, that’s all we want.’ And that’s what we have,’” she said.
Kotb’s recent revelation comes after she announced this past September that she’s departing the Today show early next year. “I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60 and to try something new,” she said at the time.
Replacing her as news anchor and third-hour co-host is Craig Melvin, who Savannah Guthrie described as “talented, wonderful, [and] hard-working” when she welcomed him to the anchor chair in November.
Melvin will officially join Guthrie as co-anchor starting Jan. 13, three days after Kotb’s final appearance as host.As Kotb officially starts with a clean slate next year, there’s time for her to find love again. Her admission confirms that she hasn’t closed the doors to her heart yet, and she’s willing to walk the aisle again with the right person.