Hoda Kotb with daughters Hope and Haley. Courtesy of Hoda Kotb/Instagram
Hoda Kotb gave fans an update on her family’s life in the suburbs while gearing up to celebrate the spooky season.
“Halloween is so fun in the suburbs,” Kotb, 60, told her cohost Jenna Bush Hager on the Friday, October 18, episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna. “We used to go trick-or-treating at CVS and the dry cleaners and [a nail salon]. … My kids thought trick-or-treating was walking into a store and having the lady behind the counter put some [candy] in your bag.”
Kotb — who shares daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, with her ex-fiancé, Joel Schiffman — said that the vibe is totally different outside of the city. “Everywhere I look in our town, [there’s] those big spiderwebs, all the things,” she said. “They have parades. They said, ‘Your kid needs three Halloween costumes or else the first one’s gonna get all ruined.’”
According to Kotb, her suburban community’s lineup of activities includes a town Halloween parade and one at her kids’ school, in addition to regular trick-or-treating. “Some people block off their streets for block parties and then go trick-or-treating and then come back,” she said. “It’s a days-long thing.”
Courtesy of Hoda Kotb/Instagram Hoda Kotb spent the weekend hosting some friendly faces at her new home in the New York suburbs. “Home,” Kotb, 60, captioned Instagram pics from Savannah Guthrie’s visit to the house with her family on Sunday, September 15. In addition to snapping a selfie with her Today coanchor, Kotb shared a […]
Bush Hager, 42, said she “can’t believe” how much Kotb has adapted to life outside of New York City and was amazed by Kotb hosting an upcoming pumpkin-carving party at her home. “I feel like I don’t even know you,” she quipped.
Kotb was equally as surprised. “I can’t even believe what I’m doing right now,” she stated. “We’re inviting people over, people are coming over, we’re having dinner, ordering pizza and salads, come join us at our table. This is crazy.”
Kotb revealed she was moving “somewhere to a new school” during a March episode of her “Making Space” podcast. Last month, she skipped an episode of the NBC morning series in order to be with her daughters for their first day of school in the suburbs.
Hoda Kotb with daughters Hope and Haley. Courtesy of Hoda Kotb/Instagram
“I have a whole new town and a whole new school and all the new things,” she said when she returned for the September 4 episode of Hoda & Jenna. “We went for our first day of school, I carried a coffee and I had sneakers [on], and I walked my kids to school like normal people. It was awesome.”
Kotb said it was a “privilege” to be with her kids for their first day back, which isn’t always the case for working parents. “I just thought, ‘You know what? Sometimes chapters change and you miss things.’ And I was like, ‘I’m gonna do it,’” she added. “It was, like, a train of 10, 12 kids walking to school in a neighborhood.”
Nathan Congleton/NBC Hoda Kotb’s nearly 20 years on the Today show have been full of many memorable moments. The TV personality announced in September 2024 that she would be departing the iconic morning show after 26 years on NBC, 16 years as a Today cohost and seven years as Savannah Guthrie’s co-anchor. “I just turned […]
Friday’s episode of Hoda & Jenna was prerecorded as Kotb, Bush Hager and more of their Today colleagues got an early start on the weekend. Willie Geist and Laura Jarrett stepped in for Kotb, Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin on the show’s first two hours. After Kotb announced her forthcoming Today show exit last month, an NBC exclusively told Us Weekly that Jarrett, 40, “has a really strong chance” of becoming a permanent replacement.
“She’s the anchor of Weekend Today; she is a lawyer like Savannah,” the insider revealed. “She’s a darling at the Today show who has risen up very quickly.”
Kotb broke the news on September 26 that she will depart Today early next year and explained that wanting to spend more time with her kids played a large role in her decision. “I had my kiddos late in life, and I was thinking they deserve a bigger piece of my time, the pie that I have,” she tearfully shared. “I feel like we only have a finite amount of time. And so, with all that being said, this is the hardest thing in the world.”
