Hoda Kotb admitted that she has a painful “epiphany” that made her long-term relationship with her ex-fiance, Joel Schiffman.
“I loved Joel back then, and now I love him,” the TV personality told Today.com in an interview released Tuesday.
“I had to remember that it’s a different kind of love. You still can love someone and admire them, and you don’t want to be a relationship, such a long-term relationship, personal relationship.”
“It was an epiphany for me and it took me courage to say it,” added Kotb, 61. “And when I did it, I felt, ‘OK, there it is.’ ”
Elsewhere in the interview, the host of the retired “Today” show revealed that she was “pretending” in relationships, suggesting that she would drag longer than she should have.
“I’m a complete fake in my relationship,” she said. “I think you know it has a relationship – I say it’s good – but I don’t think it’s deep.”
“So you continue on with the relationship, and I think the truth of the matter sometimes you have to tell yourself.
“So when you’re an optimist, you want things to work.
However, the TV personality is not in a hurry to find another man, saying that she is “waiting to see what happens.”
“I always explain to my kids, ‘Thinking becomes things, so you can think of it,” she explained. “I’m not running around saying, ‘Set it up. Who is the guy? What’s the app?’ ”
“But I know it’s coming this season – where, how, I’m not yet clear,” Kotobu continued, adding that she is waiting for her “soul connection” and that there is “no doubt” there will be someone there for her.
In January 2022, news broke that 67-year-old Kotb and Schiffman had cancelled their engagement.
“Joel and I have had a lot of prayer-like meaningful conversations on the holidays, but we decided we would be better as friends and parents than engaged couples,” Kotb announced at the “Today” show at the time.
exe is Haley Joy’s parents, 8, and Katherine, 6.
Kotb has yet to find her match, but she shared that she went on her first date since breakup in March 2024 while appearing on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”
