Hoda Kotb: 'I felt underserving of motherhood'
Hoda Kotb had to learn to accept that she was "worthy" of adopting her daughters.
Hoda Kotb used to feel "undeserving" of motherhood.
The 58-year-old star has adoptive daughters Haley Joy, six, and three-year-old Hope but admitted that while these days she feels "blessed beyond measure", she initially wondered how she ever got to the mothering stage of her life in the first place.
She told E! News: [My daughters] are the shining stars of my life. I am blessed beyond measure for me. Sometimes I wonder like, 'How did this happened? How did I get this?'. "I used to feel almost undeserving of it. But I don't anymore. Sometimes I wonder like, 'How did this happen? How did I get this?' I used to feel almost undeserving of it. But I don't anymore.”
The 'Today ' host - who split from her fiancé Joel Schiffman in January 2022 but continues to raise her daughters with him - went on to explain that she eventually accepted that she is "enough" and vowed to "nurture and love" the children as long as she is alive.
She added: "Something happened within me where I was like, 'You know what, I'm worthy of these children, I'm worthy of myself. I'm enough just as I am. I will nurture and love these little girls, as long as God lets me have them for as long as I'll be here. Let me find the joy, the love and the lessons, let me see those things and not miss them. So I feel like each day I get that. So I'm grateful for today. And tomorrow, I'm going to be grateful for tomorrow. I'm not looking down the road, I'm just going to be like, I get to do this. That's enough for me.”
