TODAY’s Hoda Kotb Shares How Daughter Hope Inspires Her: ‘Prayed for Her’
By Movieguide® Contributor
When TODAY show host Hoda Kotb was planning to adopt her second child, one word that kept appearing in her journal stood out—Hope.
So, when she adopted her daughter in 2019, she named her Hope Catherine. She’s now four years old.
“I dreamt about her and I prayed for her and I hoped for her. I could feel her like she was almost palpable before she was there,” she said.
“The name Hope was a layup. Prayers, wishes and hopes are things that are meant to be. I was like, that’s her name and she’s lived up to that name,” Kotb said.
“The name came because there are a lot of women out there who are hoping that their day is coming too, and I know the feeling of it not happening for a long time,” she said.
The 59-year-old shared that there was an immediate bond with both Hope and her older daughter, Haley, whom she adopted in 2017.
“They put [Haley] in my arms…she fit like she was born there,” Kotb recalled.
“She felt like mine right then,” she went on to say. “It didn’t take any time. It happened instantly for me.”
The two siblings have bonded as well. Kotb recalled Haley trying to feed her little sister and afterward “marching around saying, ‘I’m a big sister!’’’ she said.
“They’re in love,” Hoda told TODAY. “[Haley] wakes up in the morning and kisses Hope, and when she goes down at night, she wants to give her a good night kiss.”
The TV host’s newest children’s book, “Hope Is a Rainbow,” is inspired by her youngest and her love of rainbows.
“Hope delights in rainbows and whenever I say, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ ‘A rainbow!’” Kotb said. “It’s the beautiful colors, it appears before you, it’s magical, and that is the image that personifies her.”
Kotb’s recent publication, her third children’s book, is about having a positive outlook in life and “celebrates hope in all of its forms,” the author told viewers in a video posted on Instagram. “[I]t shows kids that whether they’re facing a challenge or they’re chasing their dreams, hope is there to help them.”
Early last year, Kotb took a brief time off the TODAY show when Hope was hospitalized. The experience showed her how “resilience comes in all kinds of packages” and how “incredibly strong” kids are.
Movieguide® previously reported on Hope’s health scare and recovery:
My youngest, Hope, was in the ICU for and then in the hospital for a little over a week,” she shared. “I’m so grateful she’s home, she is back home. I was waiting for that day to come, and we are watching her closely.”
Kotb didn’t elaborate on why Hope was hospitalized, but she did express “the amount of gratitude” she had for the doctors and nurses who helped her daughter.
“I’m grateful for the doctors at Weill Cornell who were amazing and the nurses,” she concluded. “And I’m grateful for my family and I’m grateful to friends like you [co-host Savannah Guthrie] who were there every single day. So I want to say thank you for that. I love you.”
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