Hoda Kotb’s daughters had a special way to celebrate their mom on her big day.
On Wednesday, May 28, the former Today show host and mom of two shared a post on her Instagram of a few handwritten signs her daughters Hope, 6, and Haley, 8, left for her around the house.
“Happy Launch Day Mom!” one big sign written in rainbow letters, referring to Kotb’s new project Joy 101.
She also included a photo of a sign hung on a different door, which has a heart and the word “Mom” on it. “Lucky me ❤️,” Kotb wrote in her caption.
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Kotb shares her two daughters with ex Joel Schiffman.
In this week’s cover story, Kotb revealed that her daughter Hope is living with type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease that prevents the pancreas from making insulin, requiring vigilant blood sugar monitoring and frequent insulin injections.
“It’s kind of constant care for Hope. We’re monitoring her 24/7,” said Kotb, who calls her daughter a “trouper” for the way she’s dealing with the unpleasant realities of treatment.
“She was getting shots — four or five a day — every day for a year. Now she is getting them less frequently because we have some other means to get her what she needs, but there’s a lot to it,” she added. “Some kids can have sweets, and she can’t. If she’s up in the night, we have to take care of her at night.”
After a pause, Kotb said, “She is a happy, healthy, rambunctious, amazing kid, and we have to watch her. Diabetes is a part of her but not all of her. I hope it shapes her but never defines her.”
That proud mom went on to say that being able to be totally available for her daughter became a nonnegotiable and something that was impossible as a Today co-host that had hard deadlines and a daily wake-up at 3:15 a.m.
“I really wanted to and needed to be here to watch over her. So whenever she needs anything, and it can happen at night, multiple times, I’m up — I’m up up up,” she said. “But I would never, ever want Hope to one day grow up and say, ‘Oh, my mom left her job because [of me].’ It wasn’t that alone. But if you look at it cumulatively, it was a part of that decision.”
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