Hoda Kotb Reveals She Doesn’t ‘Feel Any Ounce of Shame’ About Becoming a Mother Later in Life

The 'Today with Hoda & Jenna' co-host is mom to daughters Hope, 4, and Haley, 6

Hoda Kotb is getting candid about motherhood.

On Thursday’s episode of Today with Hoda & Jenna, Kotb, 59, opened up about her parenting journey as she discussed Sienna Miller’s recent Vogue interview in which she spoke about being pregnant aged 41.

Kotb — who welcomed her first child at 52 — is mom to daughters Hope, 4, and Haley, 6. She adopted her daughters with her ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman, from whom she split in January 2022.

During her interview with Vogue, Miller said, “I’d love to get to a point where I didn’t feel the need to make a joke of my being older and having a baby. To show I'm in on the joke.”

Kotb responded to Miller’s comments saying, “I think a lot of people do that, like you want to beat them to the punch, so you make the joke about, oh, I'm an older mom or if you feel heavy … you make the joke about it. I was always a fat kid. That's the joke you make so no one else can make it.”

Related: Hoda Kotb Admits Family Photo Featured in New Holiday Card Is Deceiving: 'It Was Too Late'

But the television host went on to share that she has never felt the need to do the same when it comes to her own situation.

"I am so happy and fulfilled with my decision that I don't feel any ounce of shame,” she said.

"Hoda doesn't feel like she needs a joke," Kotb’s co-host Jenna Bush Hager added as Kotb nodded her head in agreement. "Because she's so delighted by them that when you lead with delight, guess what follows? Delight! When you lead with enthusiasm and this has to do with everything, people are enthusiastic back."

Related: Jenna Bush Hager and Hoda Kotb Refuse to Reveal Their Favorite Child: 'They Already Need Their Therapy'

"I love that you're totally secure in it," Bush Hager, 42, continued to her co-host, who called her daughters “the best decisions I've ever made."

In a 2020 episode of the NBC show, Kotb recalled how she was mom-shamed by someone who told her she was too old to have children.

"I got a physical letter in the mail ... from a woman who wrote, 'Who do you think you are, having kids at that age?' I literally read it and thought, 'Oh my God, I can't believe someone put a stamp on it and sent it.' "

Revealing she “literally tore it up," Kotb added that she "felt horrible in that moment, because there is something that bothers you inside about that."

"But then I thought, 'Who would take a piece of paper and a pen and write that and fold it and put it in the envelope with a stamp and go to the trouble of mailing it?' It took effort," she continued.

However, Kotb confessed last year that it was "scary" to think about "how much time" she has with her young daughters.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

"As an older mom, I think there are a lot of beautiful parts and challenges too,” she said during an episode of Today with Hoda & Jenna. “I see all the good parts about being an older mom. Like, I'm in my own skin, I know who I am, I've got much more patience and love and all that stuff. But along with that also comes the fact that you're an older mother.”

Kotb then admitted that people have come up to her when she’s been with her girls and said, “'Wait, you're the mother?' And it gives you this pause for a second. And your kids look around like, 'Huh? What are you talking about?' It's a tough thing to do," she continued.

"I remember thinking, 'Why does that bother me? I'm not embarrassed to be my age. I'm happy at my age. It's the perfect storm of my life. Two kids, this time, this job.' Someone was saying, 'It gets greatest later' — it does get greater later, but in between, there are these moments that you feel an 'Ouch', " she said.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.