The television presenter announces on the NBC morning talk show that she and her financier partner Joel Schiffman have adopted a girl named Hope Catherine.
- April 17, 2019
AceShowbiz - America's "Today" show co-host Hoda Kotb has adopted another baby girl.
The TV presenter teased the news with a cryptic picture posted to Instagram on Monday (15Apr19), with the image featuring the words "Choose Hope" written over a sky filled with clouds.
And on Tuesday morning, Hoda announced during a phone call with her NBC colleagues that she and her financier partner Joel Schiffman had adopted a girl named Hope Catherine.
"It's a girl! It's a girl," she exclaimed. "I can't believe that I'm here! I'm so happy to be here."
"You think that you're full... and Joel and I were standing there when they hand you the baby and it's the closest thing you'll get to a live birth...It's amazing. I can't believe it's happening!"
Hoda and Joel adopted daughter Haley Joy, now two, back in 2017, and the star has previously spoken candidly about how the experience has changed her life.
"I feel like if you're meant to have a child in your life, your child is out there,'' the 54-year-old said while hosting the "Today" show on World Adoption Day in 2018. "They said to me at the adoption agency, 'Don't worry, your child is out there waiting for you.' And I remember I would scribble in my journal, 'I know you're there.' I could feel her."
Hoda, who won a Daytime Emmy Award as part of the "Today" team in 2010, has been in a relationship with Joel since 2013.
She was previously married to former University of New Orleans tennis coach Burzis Kanga. The couple divorced in 2007 after two years of marriage and had no children.
