Hoda Kotb's TODAY Co-Anchors Had the Sweetest Reaction to Her Engagement

From Oprah Magazine

• Hoda Kotb and her longtime partner, Joel Schiffman are engaged!

• The pair, who met at a Wall Street event in 2013, share two daughters.

• When Kotb shared the news with her co-anchors Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker, Craig Melvin, and Jenna Bush Hager on TODAY, she was met with the most joyful reaction.

• Here's everything we know about the proposal and their upcoming nuptials.

The season just got a little brighter for Hoda Kotb and Joel Schiffman. On Monday, the anchor and television personality revealed she and her partner of six years were engaged, and she did so in the most endearing way possible: live on TODAY.

"I have to tell you something. A friend of mine, a friend of ours, asked me to let you guys in on a secret," Kotb, 55, told her friends and fellow co-hosts. "I’ll give you her initials. Her initials are Hoda Kotb, and she’s engaged!"

Kotb then lifted her hand, displaying a stunning, square-set ring.

Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker, Craig Melvin, and Jenna Bush Hager were stunned. Melvin immediately began shouting "What?!" while Guthrie yelled "What are you talking about?" And, after receiving hugs from her peers, Kotb explained.

"We were on our usual vacation. We ended up having a little dinner on the beach... and he was like, 'I have something else I would like to say,'" Kotb recounted. "He said some beautiful things, got down on one knee and then he said, 'Will you be my wife?'" Kotb, of course, said yes.

Kotb and Schiffman, 61, met years ago, at an event where Kotb was speaking and signing autographs. Kotb didn't want to go initially. She once told Andy Cohen, "It was pouring rain. It was a bunch of Wall Street guys. I had to give a speech and they were bored..." but things changed during the meet-and-greet, when Schiffman caught her attention.

"Make it [the photograph] out to me," he said, and the rest is history. The pair has been inseparable for six years.

Kotb and Schiffman have been raising two children together for the last two years. Kotb adopted Haley Joy in 2017 and Hope Catherine earlier this year.

In 2017, Kotb told People “Haley will call him Dad. He’s such a great dad and a great influence."

Now that they're engaged, she 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."

No word on when Kotb and Schiffman will tie the knot, but we cannot wait to hear all about their upcoming nuptials.

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