EXCLUSIVE: Hoda Kotb Gives Up on Finding New Love After Failed Reunion With Ex-Fiancé Joel Schiffman — 'She Sees It's for the Best'
Hoda Kotb has given up on love after failed reunion with ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman, seeing it's for the best.
Nov. 13 2025, Published 6:00 a.m. ET
Lonely Hoda Kotb is pulling the plug on finding love now that the former Today star has finally given up on a reunion with ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The 61-year-old single mom of daughters Haley, 8, and Hope, 6, has been chattering about jumping onto the dating-go-round again for years and even asked former Today cohorts Savannah Guthrie and Jenna Bush Hager to set her up.
Still Stuck On Joel
Insiders said Hoda Kotb has finally given up on reuniting with ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman.
But that went nowhere and pals blame Kotb, insisting she's still hung up on Schiffman, 67, whom she split from in 2022 following a three-year engagement.
Said an insider: "She was thinking he was coming back and even expecting it for so long, but now she's saying she's finally given up and sees it's for the best.
"She has started to turn her attention to other people and had some dates, but that's not panning out well.
"All roads lead back to Joel because what they had was special."
But an insider blamed the former TV star for the breakup, saying Kotb thought their romance "needed to be something else."
Hoda's Struggles With Love
Savannah Guthrie and Jenna Bush Hager once tried to set up Kotb after her breakup.
"She dragged the relationship down and that's a hard fact to face. Now, she's filling her calendar and starting to get busy again and putting an effort into meeting somebody, but she's philosophical about it, too.
"Maybe love isn't meant to be for her."
RadarOnline.com previously reported how financial honcho Schiffman – who is still friendly with Kotb while coparenting their adopted girls – was keen on a hookup arrangement with Kotb, but she balked at that and tried to hold out for something more meaningful.
In her recent memoir, she cried over the loss of their love affair, and recalled a soul-searching experience at a life-building retreat that left her reexamining her priorities.
Hoda's Heartbreaking Words
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The former 'Today' host admitted in her memoir to pretending in past relationships.
"I knew I could say that I wanted to better myself or something vague like that," Kotb wrote. "But when I looked around at all the people who'd shared their raw truth, I felt so moved by their honesty.
"They deserved the same from me. So, I said it. I told the truth about why I had come. 'I am a total phony in my relationships,' I said. 'I'm a pretender.'"
