“Today” show’s Hoda Kotb shared that her and her fiancé Joel Schiffman have called off their engagement and their relationship is over after eight years together.
“People have written in and asked why I wasn’t wearing my engagement ring,” Kotb shared Monday on “Today With Hoda & Jenna.” The comments were noted by Entertainment Tonight.
“Joel and I have had, we’ve 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,” she added. (RELATED: Jenna Bush Hager Joins Hoda Kotb As New ‘Today’ Show Co-Host)
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Hoda says her engagement has been called off. “We decided we are better as friends and parents than we are as an engaged couple,” she says. pic.twitter.com/zOJrvhE6wZ
— TODAY with Hoda & Jenna (@HodaAndJenna) January 31, 2022
“We decided that we are going to start this New Year and begin it on our new path, as loving parents to our adorable, delightful children and as friends,” Kotb continued. “It’s not like something happened. They say that sometimes relationships are meant to be there for a reason or a season or for a lifetime, and I feel like ours was meant to be there for a season.”
The 57-year-old host admitted revealing her personal information felt “weird and awkward.” And she noted how often people will “share the joyous pieces of” their life but keep the harder parts quiet. (RELATED: Hoda Kotb Officially Tapped To Replace Matt Lauer)
“Then the difficult part sometimes you want to forget about,” Kotb shared. “You want to erase them, you don’t want to share them because that’s not part of a pretty picture. But I think a lot of women know what this feels like in this moment, to be changing course in life. And I feel really brave in this moment, I really do.”
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The morning show host and Schiffman, an American financier, announced their engagement in 2019. The couple also shares two daughters, 4-year-old Haley and 2-year-old Hope, together that they adopted.