Hoda Kotb has revealed how her eight -year -old daughter, Haley, involuntarily discovered that her mother had breast cancer.
The former 61 -year -old television presenter reflected on his personal life and his career during the episode on Tuesday of his former Today Jenna Bush Hager's co-presser Open book. She opened about her relationship with her adopted children, Haley and Hope, six years old, and how her older accidentally learned about her cancer diagnosis.
“I saw Haley reading my book, and there are probably many things there that she doesn't know,” Kotb said, referring to her recently released book, Jump and find joy. “And she says: 'You had breast cancer!' I'm like, 'My God, my God!' ”
However, Kotb acknowledged that when Hope read the book, his link became even stronger.
“But the fact is that we know ourselves as people, humans,” he explained. “Not only mom, or authority figure versus child.”
Kotb was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and underwent a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery in March of that year. She has been free of cancer since then.
During his conversation with Bush Hager, Kotb opened about doing the time to “sit and have a real conversation” with his children, since he left Today In January. He also said he has been building a deeper connection with his children.
“I feel that it made me space in me. Because it is like anything when you are full of people and you are hiding small spaces for your children or for you, even small pockets, they don't have enough,” he said. “I feel that my children chose me and chose them safely.
“When choosing them, like, stop them. I know them. Don't choose them and say: 'Yay, I did it.
When Kotb announced his NBC departure, after 26 years, he said it was for spending time with his daughters, whom he shares with former promised Joel Schiffman.
“I realized that it was time to turn the page at 60 and try something new,” he said in the long -term morning program last year. “Obviously, I had my children late in life, and I was thinking that they deserved a larger piece of my time cake I have. I feel that we only have a finite amount of time.”
Later, Kotb revealed that his decision to leave also emerged from the diagnosis of Hamá Hope type 1 diabetes.
“It is a kind of constant care for hope. We are monitoring it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” Kotb told People In May, calling his daughter a “soldier” for dealing with the condition.
“I was receiving shots, four or five per day, every day for a year. Now you are receiving them less frequently because we have other means to get what you need, but there are much. Some children may have sweets and cannot. If you are awake at night, we have to take care of it at night.”
