Hoda Kotb’s daughter Hope is “getting better” after her hospitalization.
The “Today” show co-anchor gave an update on the 4-year-old’s health in Tuesday’s episode of Southern Living’s “Biscuits & Jam” podcast.
“To watch her go through a difficult time at just 3 years old is really tough for any parent because you’re helpless,” Kotb, 58, said.
“But I think you realize just how incredibly resilient and strong she is. I think sometimes you learn life’s lessons from the most amazing places.”
The former “Dateline” correspondent called Hope and her other daughter, 6-year-old Haley, “strong women already.”
Kotb also shared a story from her time in the hospital with Hope in February and March, which kept her off the air for weeks.
“Hope said, ‘You know, I think God put me here to teach people things,'” the Daytime Emmy winner recalled. “I said, ‘What? What? What?’ She said, ‘Yeah, because my brain’s pretty big, so I think I’m supposed to teach people things.'”
The interaction took place after midnight, with Kotb wondering whether Hope really “blurt[ed] that out.”
She gushed, “It’s like, [we] learn from our kids. And all we have to do is model; we don’t have to teach anything. Just be you … and then learn from them.”
Hope returned home last month, with Kotb telling “Today” show viewers that she was “over the moon” to have the little one back under her roof — although she did not disclose the nature of Hope’s health scare.
Later that same week, her co-anchor Savannah Guthrie told Pvnew that Kotb was ready to “get back to life” after being “there every single day and every single night” for Hope.
“She’s so strong,” Guthrie, 51, said. “She never left her daughter’s side.”
Kotb and her ex Joel Schiffman adopted Haley and Hope in 2017 and 2019, respectively, before ending their engagement in 2022.
