Hoda Kotb Recalls Learning She Couldn’t Get Pregnant Amid Cancer Battle: ‘Killed a Dream’

Hoda Kotb will always remember how one conversation amid her cancer battle shaped the rest of her life.

“I do remember that even the doctor said to me then, you know, one of the sort of side effects, especially at your age, which was in my 40s, early 40s, is you won't be able to have children. And I was like, ‘Wait, what?’” Kotb, 60, recalled on the Monday, August 12, episode of the “Making Space” podcast. “So this thing not only put limits on my life, but killed a dream.”

Kotb noted that the news “didn’t kill [her] right then, but it killed a dream.” She added that it felt like “all these things were happening” and she was at a “pretty low” point in her life.

“I remember waking up one morning and saying to myself — it was like a lightning bolt — and it was like, I remember those four words. It was, you can't scare me because the worst had happened. So now what? Now what am I afraid of?” she said. “And so not being afraid released me. It made me free, it was amazing.”

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Kotb got emotional as she reflected on what she learned from her hardships. “Asking for what you deserve is something that you should be able to do without worrying about, ‘Well I’m doing this because maybe I won’t live that long,’” she said. “We shouldn’t have to have that in order to propel us to ask for what we deserve. Like, why do you have to have a terrible diagnosis before you’re free?”

Kotb revealed her breast cancer diagnosis and underwent a mastectomy in 2007. Less than one year later, she announced her split from then-husband Burzis Kanga after three years of marriage.

In 2013, the Today With Hoda & Jenna cohost began dating Joel Schiffman , and the twosome adopted their first daughter, Haley, four years later. “She’s the love of my life,” Kotb said in a clip she reshared during her Monday episode.

Schiffman, 66, and Kotb welcomed their second daughter, Hope, to their family in 2019. Months later, the pair got engaged, but Kotb announced in January 2022 that they called off their engagement .

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Following her separation from Schiffman, Kotb shared with Us Weekly the lessons she hopes her daughters learn from her .

“I think one thing I really wanna work on with my girls, too, is them having their voice,” she exclusively told Us in November 2022. “[Teaching them about] being brave enough to say what they need, what they want and not to feel greedy or too much or too bossy. … I think I want my girls to be more vocal and to say what they want and not to be afraid and not to try to conform to be what other people want.”