Hoda Kotb Says Getting Engaged at 55 Was "Right on Time"

From Oprah Magazine

Since Today show anchor, Hoda Kotb announced that she adopted a second baby girl in April, inquiring internet minds have wanted to know more about her family. And we're not just talking about the latest addition, Hope Catherine, or her two-year-old Haley Joy. We're referring to Kotb's (now) fiance, Joel Schiffman, with whom she's raising her two precious daughters.

Schiffman, a finance guy, 61 and Kotb, 55 got engaged on a beach in Mexico this weekend after six years together. Kotb previously called the relationship "the most natural one I've ever been in," adding "I’m going to be with Joel until my last breath."

Here's everything we know about the happy parents, including how Schiffman popped the question.

Tell us about the engagement!

The couple was enjoying supper on the beach during a vacation in Mexico when, in the middle of their meal, after regaling Kotb with some "beautiful things," Schiffman popped down to one sandy knee and said "Would you be my wife?"

Kotb told her TODAY co-anchors on November 25 that she was absolutely floored. "I was totally shocked...he had a good poker face," adding, "My heart has literally been pounding."

She also joked that she's not quite sure what to tell their daughters. "How am I going to explain (to the girls) your parents are going to get married? We're still trying to figure out that part."

As far as the timing goes, Kotb shared, “If someone had said to me when I was a little girl, ‘Hey Hoda, guess what your life is going to be like: When you’re 49 or 50, you’re going to meet the guy you’re going to fall in love with, and you’re going to have children at 55 and 56,’ I would have been like, ‘What?’ It just shows you, the perfect life for you, and this is for me, is exactly as it comes,” Kotb told People.

“Everything may look out of order, and it kind of feels it a little bit, but it is all right on time,” says Kotb.

So, um, what's Joel Schiffman's job?

He's in finance. Or, according to LinkedIn, more specifically, he's the Head of U.S. Defined Contribution and Insurance Sales at an investment management company, which sure sounds fancy.

Where did Hoda and Joel meet?

Kotb told Andy Cohen that their meet-cute occurred at an "event I didn't want to go to." She explained, "It was pouring rain. It was a bunch of Wall Street guys. I had to give a speech. They were bored..." But before she could leave, she had to sign a few photographs, and that's when Schiffman caught her attention. "Make it out to me," he said. (We'd like to assume with a wink.) With that, Kotb confirmed with someone else at the event that the "Jewish gentleman," as she described him to Cohen, was indeed single, and passed along her email address so they could be connected.

"He is the best guy," she gushed to Cohen.

In fact, for a little more backstory, it was because of Joanne LaMarca Mathisen, the executive producer of TODAY with Hoda & Jenna. Well, technically her husband, who coerced Kotb to go to the event, which is why in this sweet anniversary post she shared, she thanks LaMarca and her gent.

And what about their daughters?

"He's an unbelievable father to Haley," Kotb, who is a breast cancer survivor, told Entertainment Weekly before Hope came into their lives. Schiffman also has a grown daughter from a previous marriage.

"I always wanted to have a child, and I wondered if Joel did, too," the talk show host revealed to Wendy Williams."I went to Joel and I said to him, 'I need to discuss something with you and it's really important,' and I said, 'And I want you to not answer me now. I want you to marinate, I want you to take a week ... take as long as you need.'" She shared that she wanted to adopt a child together, and he swiftly responded, "'I don't need a minute.'" That's when Kotb said, "I knew I’d chosen the right man.”

When they adopted Hope, Kotb shared with her Today show co-hosts over the phone, "You know what's funny? You think that you're full. That's exactly how I felt with Haley and Joel and everything. Joel and I were standing there when they hand you the baby, and it's the closest thing to a live birth you'll ever see, but in that moment I was like, 'Oh my God, my heart just grew.'"

And their little girls will, of course, play a critical role in their upcoming wedding. "We said to Haley, 'Mommy and Daddy love each other so we're having a party,'" Hoda shared on TODAY. "She's gonna be in it. And Hope, too."

Joel said "I love you" first.

"I remember him saying it to me,” Hoda shared on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna. "And after he said it, I remember just sitting there because I wanted to feel it for a minute.” She explained that usually she's a "pleaser" but rather than just respond immediately, she opted to let that moment "wash over" her.

“Like, just to sit with that for a minute—somebody saying, you know, he just said, ‘I love you,’” she continued. “And I paused, and he goes, ‘Don’t leave me hanging out here in the abyss,’” she said, adding that she respected his bravery.

"He goes, ‘Please,’ and I told him I loved him, too, but I remember thinking to be the first person to say it is risky and that takes guts,” she said. “And it’s easy to be the one who says, ‘I love you, too,’ and I will always admire him because he has guts.”

So, when's the wedding?

Kotb, who was previously married to former U.N.O. tennis coach Burzis Kanga, told Entertainment Weekly in March: "I have never teased a marriage. Joel will be with me the rest of my life, I have no doubt."

On Watch What Happens Live in 2018, she was asked if they were going to pull a Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell—as in, stay together for 35 blissful years without ever drawing up the paperwork. Kotb responded, "I kind of like their vibe. Don't you think? I think it's okay."

But we now know how that turned out. Wedding bells are most certainly in the (not so distant) future.

It'll be “sooner rather than later, because what are we waiting for?” Kotb said on TODAY, adding, "We're already getting it together. We just want to do it."

"We may go back to the place we were engaged in Mexico. Lots of margaritas and Mexican food. Keep the tequila on tap! But, we haven’t thought about it too much, nothing we do is about bells and whistles in that way. If he said let’s do it right now, I would. All I want it to be is fun and happy and everybody to feel easy breezy,” says Kotb.

“No coordinated bridesmaids, just come as you are,” she added. “That’s the theme of the rest of my life.”

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