Broadcast journalist, TV presenter of the TODAY show, and author Hoda Kotb and her entrepreneur beau Joel Schiffman have publicly ended their engagement and relationship of nine years.
The 57-year old broke the news on her morning show, addressing viewers who questioned why she was no longer wearing her engagement ring. Kotb told the audience the following:
Joel and I have had a lot of prayerful and really meaningful conversations over the holidays and we decided that we’re better as friends and parents than we are as an engaged couple. So we decided we are going to start this new year and begin it kind of on our new path as loving parents to our adorable, delightful children, and as friends.
By the sound of it, this is a mutual decision and they’re ending things on a positive note. For those wondering what went wrong, Kotb says that nothing in particular happened.
“They say sometimes relationships are meant to be there for a reason, or a season or for a lifetime. And I feel like ours was meant to be there for a season,” she continued in her conversation with her co-host Jenna Bush Hager.
The former love birds got engaged in 2019 while having an intimate dinner on the beach. This came three years after they moved in together in 2016. They have two toddler girls, Hope who is two and Haley who is 4. Both girls were adopted by the couple, who just last year were in the process of trying to adopt a third child.
Although we’re sad they’ve ended their romance, we understand that relationships don’t always last and just because they don’t doesn’t mean it has to come to a negative conclusion. We hope they find happiness in this new chapter and have a smooth transition into co-parenting.