Today Show star Hoda Kotb has recently opened up about hitting rock bottom after battling breast cancer and going through a divorce in the same year.
In 2007 Hoda announced she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and in 2008 she confirmed she was divorcing her then-husband Burzis Kanga after three years of marriage. Now, the mom-of-two has spoken candidly about that period in her life, acknowledging that she was "barely functioning".
“I went through a divorce and breast cancer simultaneously, and I remembered at that time barely functioning, and I was thinking to myself, ‘Is this it? Is this how it goes?'" the 59-year-old anchor told co host Jenna Bush Hager during the episode on Thursday, October 19.
“I was thinking about some of my lowest moments during that time what was contributing to all of it was I was in horrible health, and I didn’t care about that piece of it, and you don’t realize how bad it gets and then you’re compounding it, your health gets worse, because you’re not well, and [it] went on and on.”
She continued: “You realize when you’re on solid ground again, and you look back, and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, I didn’t take an hour for myself,’ there were all the things I never ever did that I am doing today that make such a difference."
Hoda had a mastectomy but post-surgery drugs left her unable to conceive. She later welcomed her daughters Haley and Hope via adoption with her now ex-fiance Joel Schiffman.
Hoda and financier Joel dated for six years before he popped the question with a white diamond and sapphire engagement ring thought to be worth $250k in November 2019. They delayed their wedding amid the coronavirus pandemic before announcing their decision to separate in January 2022.
In an emotional statement made live on air, Hoda said: "Joel and I have had a lot of prayerful and really meaningful conversations over the holidays, and we decided that we're better as friends and parents than we are as an engaged couple.
"We decided that we are going to start this new year and begin it kind of on our new path as loving parents to our adorable, delightful children, and as friends."
They now co parent their two girls, six-year-old Haley and Hope, four.
Hoda discovered she was unable to welcome her own children naturally after the surgery, and in 2022 she told Good Housekeeping that the moment she was told she blamed herself.
"I was in my room, and I just sobbed. I thought, ‘Well, that’s that, isn’t it?’ Like, you almost blame yourself. ‘Why didn’t I do this? Why didn’t I do that?’” she recalled. “So I just pushed it away, because the reality seemed impossible to bear. How do you survive knowing you can’t have what you desire and what you feel like you actually physically need?”
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