Hoda Kotb revealed that her youngest daughter, Hope, has Type 1 diabetes while returning to the TODAY show for the first time since January.
The longtime TODAY co-anchor opened up about her daughter’s diagnosis on Wednesday, May 28, the same day she shared the launch of her new wellness brand, Joy 101.
While spending more time with her daughters, Hope, 6, Haley, 8, was the main reason she left the show, Hope’s condition “definitely weighed in,” Hoda tells TODAY.com.
“As anyone with a child who has Type 1 (knows), especially a little kid, you’re constantly watching, you’re constantly monitoring, you’re constantly checking, which is what I did all the time when I was (at TODAY). You’re distracted.”
“You just get a priority check in your life,” Hoda added while speaking with TODAY co-anchors Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin. “I can be here and sweating what’s happening to Hope in the morning and in the night, or I can be there and feel relief that I can see.”
Hoda, 60, left TODAY in January after seven years as a co-anchor and nearly three decades at NBC News. Her emotional final day was Jan. 10, 2025.
Four and a half months later, Hoda returned to Studio 1A to give an update on her life and new routine. And showing up for her girls is more important than ever, especially as Hope navigates life with Type 1 diabetes, a chronic autoimmune disorder that prevents the pancreas from making insulin.
“Hope is fine for most of the day. There are just moments where you have to watch her,” Hoda explained. “I was totaling it up — five minutes at breakfast, five minutes at lunch, five minutes at dinner, sometimes overnight. Add that up, that’s a half-hour. So for 23 and a half hours, she’s every other kid. So I try to remember that.”
Hope’s health issues began over two years ago. In February 2023, Hoda took two weeks off from TODAY due to a “family health matter,” she shared at the time.
Hoda later revealed that her youngest daughter, Hope Catherine, had been hospitalized due to a sudden, unspecified illness. Hope, who was 4 at the time, spent several days in the intensive care unit and a little over a week in the hospital, Hoda said.
In March 2024, one year after Hope’s health scare, Hoda shared an update that things had stabilized and her family is focused on managing Hope’s health condition in the long-term.
Recalling Hope’s early symptoms of diabetes, Hoda tells TODAY.com that she “looked like she had the flu, and we literally had to race to the hospital.”
“And you get there and you realize that it’s not that at all. And it took us going to the hospital to figure it out,” Hoda adds.
Type 1 diabetes occurs when the immune system mistakenly destroys cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, per the Cleveland Clinic.
Insulin is a hormone that regulates the amount of sugar in the blood by allowing glucose from the food we eat to enter cells, which use it for energy.
If your body does not make enough insulin, too much sugar will build up in the blood, leading to hyperglycemia, which can result in life-threatening complications if left untreated. These include diabetic ketoacidosis, a condition that can lead to diabetic coma or death, per the American Diabetes Association.
Symptoms of Type 1 diabetes include increased thirst, frequent urination, fatigue, bedwetting, extreme hunger, unexplained weight loss and more.
There is no cure for Type 1 diabetes, and patients must take synthetic insulin every day in order to stay healthy.
Type 1 diabetes most commonly appears during childhood, often between the ages of 4-7, per the Mayo Clinic. Diabetes is prevalent in the United States and one of the most common chronic diseases that affect children.
Even though Hope lives with a chronic health condition, Hoda wants to make sure she knows she’s still a regular kid.
“Don’t put your worry on your kid,” she advises fellow parents. “Watch them, but don’t put your worry on them. Let them be kids and give them what they need when they need it.”
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
