Hoda Kotb Says She Feels Like Her ‘Best’ and ‘Most Confident’ Self at 57

• Hoda Kotb, 57, opened up about aging in a new segment on Today with Hoda and Jenna.

• The co-host told Jenna Bush Hager she started to feel like her “best” and “most confident” self in her 50s.

• “You know exactly who you are,” she said.

At 57, Hoda Kotb is living her best life. The Today host opened up about aging in a new segment on Today with Hoda and Jenna, where she told co-host Jenna Bush Hager that she's never felt so happy and confident than when she reached her fifties.

“When you get to be in your fifties and you’re a woman, you do know exactly who you are,” Kotb told Bush Hager. “Like I'm here to tell you, as you go through your years in life, your best years—your most confident, your clearest years—are ahead for you.”

Kotb said that, although Bush Hager, who is married to Henry Hager and mom to Poppy, Mila, and Baby Hal, is in a good place in life, the best is yet to come.

“Imagine where you’re at right now. You have confidence—you have a beautiful life that you guys built,” Kotb said of Bush Hager and her husband. “It will get better and better, because you'll know exactly who you are.”

Although Bush Hager agreed with her co-host that she feels so happy at age 40, the Today host revealed that she doesn't think of herself as sexy. “I would never use the word ‘sexy’ to describe me,” she admitted to Kotb.

“I feel like we have confidence,” Kotb replied. “Every woman knows this feeling at some point in her life where someone walks up to you and you know that they’re smoldering for you. You may not know them well, but you know the feeling.”

The Today host, who is recently split from former partner Joel Schiffman, said she definitely still feels desire towards others in her fifties. “You’re like, ‘Oh my God.’ In that moment you’re like, ‘Stop leering!’ But you feel desire,” she said.

“Oh my God—I feel like I’m reading a romance novel!” Bush Hager replied.

Kotb, who adopted her daughters Haley Joy in 2017 and Hope Catherine in 2019 with Schiffman in her fifties, previously opened up to Andy Cohen about aging. “I feel like everything good in my life started happening when I turned 49,” Kotb told Cohen. “I met Joel, [had] the kids, everything happened since then.”

Kotb added to Cohen that she still feels like she’s in her forties. To stay looking and feeling her best at 57, Kotb has a pretty consistent routine that begins as early as 3 a.m.. The Today host says having a routine is important to starting the day right.

“My alarm goes off at 3, and I go downstairs at 3:15 or 3:30,” Kotb said. From there, she lights a candle, writes and hides a note for her kids to enjoy later, practices seven minutes of breathing, listens to a book of prayers, and journals.

Before drifting to sleep, Kotb unwinds by scrolling through Twitter and praying before she dozes off. “I think the most important parts of the day are how you start it and how you end it,” Kotb said, “so I try to end it gently.”

You Might Also Like

• The Best Yoga Mats, According to Top Yoga Instructors

• The Shockingly Simple Diet Change This Woman Made to Drop 54 Pounds

• Losing Stubborn Belly Fat Really Comes Down to These Two Lifestyle Changes