Hoda Kotb, 60, Reveals Why She Split With Fiancé Joel Schiffman — as She Declares She’ll Soon Rebound With Dream Partner
Aug. 14 2024, Published 12:30 p.m. ET
Hoda Kotb gave her biggest hint yet as to why she and ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman called it quits, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The Today host and Schiffman grew apart.
Kotb said in an interview: “I think when people are growing at two different paces it's hard to be in sync.”
The journalist, 60, called her ex of eight years “a great human being” and “one of the best people” she knows.
She added: “And I feel like I’m a pretty great human being, but sometimes two great human beings together isn’t quite enough to make it work”.
In the interview, Kotb emphasized she is now single and confidently ready to mingle, stating she knows her "dream partner is coming".
She said: "So many things have taken so much time to show up in my life and I don't mind it one bit.”
Kotb said her newfound confidence stems from a shift in self-perspective, telling her fellow talk show host she is finally herself “for the first time in her life”.
Because of the shift, Kotb explains, her future partner will be “meeting the real her” and “not the version (they) might want, or not the version I’ll twist a little bit to fit (their) needs or what is appealing to (them)”.
She said: “This is who I am, and I feel like once you get there your heart rests. You're like, ‘Oh, this is what it feels like.’ So when I close my eyes and see it, I see it.”
Speaking of physical preferences, Kotb emphasized on The Jamie Kern Lima Show those are a low priority.
Kotb said: “I don't see his face. It’s not like I'm like, ’I want XYZ.’ I don't even care about XYZ, tall, short, bald, not bald. I don’t care. But I know the essence and I can sense the soul of that person.”
As for Kotb and the 66-year-old financier, the exes share two adopted daughters together: Haley Joy, 7, and Hope Catherine, 4.
When news of their split broke, the TV host emphasized there is no bad blood between them.
Kotb said: “Joel and I have had a lot of prayer and meaningful conversations over the holidays and we decided that we are better as friends and parents than we are as an engaged couple.”
She also said the two would go on co-parenting as friends, adding: “It’s not like something happened. They say sometimes relationships are meant to be there for a reason, a season or a lifetime, this was for a season.”
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