Hoda Kotb Discloses Daughter Hope's Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosis

Hoda Kotb opened up about a deeply personal chapter in her life during a return to "TODAY," revealing her daughter's health journey and the reasons behind her departure from the anchor desk.

Hoda Kotb appeared as a guest on "TODAY" after stepping away from her co-anchor role in January. Four and a half months after leaving the morning show, she returned to Studio 1A to update viewers on her life and explain how her daughter's condition has influenced her journey.

She revealed that her youngest daughter, Hope, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Hope's diagnosis, a chronic autoimmune disorder that prevents the pancreas from producing insulin, has required significant changes at home. "You just get a priority check in your life, you know," she admitted on the show.

Kotb, 60, shared that Hope's health issues began in 2023. Since then, she has shifted her focus toward her family, and slowly starting to adjust until she finally left the "TODAY" show in January 2025.

When she left, she'd been a co-anchor for seven years, and had been with NBC news for nearly three decades. Nearly five months into her new chapter, Kotb has embraced a slower pace of life filled with presence and intentionality.

It is the small, everyday moments that Kotb now treasures the most. "It's really cool to just realize that there's so much more to life," she said. "I wasn't able to bear witness to my kids’ daily lives because of what I was doing. I got to see Haley sing 'What a Wonderful World' at 9:15 a.m., I would have missed that. I used to think life was the big things, but it really is all the stuff that happens in between."

She is also building Joy 101, a wellness company featuring an app, live events, and a subscription newsletter that centers on themes such as mindfulness, meditation, and personal well-being.