Hoda Kotb Shares Update on Daughter Hope’s Health Crisis
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
In a recent interview with People magazine, Today host Hoda Kotb has opened up about her daughter Hope’s health crisis.
Fans will remember that Kotb took some time away from the show after Hope, now age 4, experienced an emergency medical crisis early last year. While “things have stabilized” by now, she confesses that having Hope admitted to the ICU and her extended hospital stay was, understandably, a very “scary stretch” for the family.
“It’s like you just can’t believe that your child’s sick,” she says. “You can’t believe that there’s nothing you can do. You can’t believe that no matter what you do, you can’t will it away or protect her, or all the things that we’re supposed to be doing as parents.”
Given Hope’s age, Kotb has refrained from getting specific on her diagnosis, but shared in the interview that she and the family are keeping a constant eye on Hope, and that she spends many sleepless nights listening for Hope’s monitor to go off.
Kotb’s current priorities are to “make everything normal” and, like any caring parent, to shield Hope from “all of the grown-up worries.” “Even just always saying, ‘How are you feeling? You feeling good today, honey?’ is saying, ‘I’m worried,’ because you’re not saying that about your other child,” she says. “I’m trying so hard to let her be a kid.”
“She’s a kid who is so vibrant, and most days everything is fine,” she adds. “I don’t want people to look at her differently.”
Kotb still strives to carve out moments for her own self-care, and in some of the darkest moments, her family finds solace in their faith.
“I tell [my daughters], ‘God’s everywhere.’ And I think it’s been helpful to Hope, especially during this kind of period in her life,” she says. “She likes to be protected. She looks up sometimes, and I go, ‘What are you looking at? What’s that?’ She goes, ‘Angels are here.’ And I go, ‘Where?’ She goes, ‘Here.’ And I’m laying there. I’m as quiet as I can be not to disturb the most beautiful moment.”
Kotb added that she’s humbled by the outpouring of support from her colleagues and loved ones. “This is the most support I’ve ever had,” she shared, recalling the visit from Today weatherman Al Roker during their hospital stay and the unwavering support of her coanchor Savannah Guthrie, both of whom went above and beyond to lend a helping hand. Additionally, her extended family has rallied around them like never before.
“I look at [Hope], and I think, Wow, you blossomed into this incredible kid who is so resilient and well-equipped for her whole life despite this stuff that has happened to her,” Kotb says, tearing up. “She just demonstrates that when you have whatever she has inside of her, this will, this fight, this everything…she can withstand anything. This child is going to have the easiest adulthood because she’s had a tough go of it early on.”
Hoda published her newest children’s book, Hope is a Rainbow, on March 5, saying that she dedicated the book to Hope because of who she is.
“I thought her goodness should be spread around,” she said. “She was the hope that I’d been looking for and wanting. Sometimes you name a child, and then they become the name.”
You Might Also Like
