This post has been updated since it was originally published to include recent facts
Hoda Kotb just gave fans a new update on her love life following her split from fiancé Joel Schiffman earlier this year! The 58-year-old Today co-host told Andy Cohen on the November 29th episode of Watch What Happens Live that she is still optimistic about finding love, and she is currently waiting patiently for her friend and co-host Jenna Bush Hager, 40, to set her up with the right guy.
“Have I gone on any dates since Jenna said she was going to set me up? Not yet,” Hoda confessed. “But I’m saying yet, ’cause I actually think that Jenna’s got a really good track record of setting people up. There’s someone who got married as a result of a Jenna setup.” Wow! Jenna, who was also on the show, added: “There’s things coming. It needs to be the right guy, right?” We couldn’t agree more!
Hoda Asked Jenna To Set Her Up On ‘Today’
Hoda asked her friend and co-host to set her up when the two ladies were discussing Jenna’s excellent matchmaking skills on the Tuesday, October 4th episode of Today with Hoda & Jenna. Hoda said, “You’re really good at setting people up,” to which Jenna replied, “I want to set you up.”
“Ok, I want to be set up,” Hoda agreed, before adding that she is happy for Jenna to accept the challenge because she knows that her friend knows her well, and she “trusts” her! “If you didn’t know me, even if we were anchoring and pretending, then I wouldn’t say yes. But you do know me.”
Hoda Previously Opened Up About Finding Love Again: ‘I Can Sometimes Feel Him’
Hoda previously updated fans on her romantic life about a month ago, telling Jenna that she is so optimistic about finding love again following her split from Joel Schiffman earlier this year, adding that she can sometimes “feel” her future partner!
For everybody who is at a phase in their life where they may not be with a partner, @hodakotb reflects on the feeling of knowing you aren’t alone. pic.twitter.com/LS7Mf0axn3
— TODAY with Hoda & Jenna (@HodaAndJenna) November 15, 2022
Hota Kotb Says She Can ‘Feel’ Future Partner After Joel Schiffman Split
The Today co-host made the confession on the Tuesday, November 15th episode of Today with Hoda & Jenna while talking about a recent conversation she had with her sister. “For everybody who is at a phase in their life where they may or may not be with a partner. My sister said to me once, ‘Are you afraid of being by yourself?’ And I know this is so weird, but I said to her, ‘I am not going to be by myself,’” she explained.
“Like, I actually know it, as sure as I’m sitting next to you at this desk. I have two beautiful daughters who I am wild about, obviously,” she continued, in reference to the two daughters she shares with Schiffman, Haley Joy, 5, and Hope Catherine, 3. “But I know with certainty – and it’s the strangest feeling to know that. Like, I can sometimes feel him, but I don’t see what he looks like, but I feel like it will happen. So if someone is like, ‘Maybe you’ll meet someone by Christmas….’ Maybe! I’m not on the hunt, but I have a weird, like, tingly Spidey-sense about it.” Wow!
READ MORE: The Truth About Savannah Guthrie And Hoda Kotb’s Feud, According To A ‘Today’ Show Insider
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Hoda Reveals Who She Has A Crush On
We wonder if Hoda’s potential new beau will have a resemblance to a certain late actor, as she confessed to Jenna that she had a serious crush on him! “You know who I thought was hot? He died, sorry, a while ago. Brian Dennehy,” Hoda confessed. “There was something about him. He had that whole, police officer strong quality. Like, there was something about him. He was big, but he was hot.”
Her 40-year-old co-host, who recently got the green light from Hoda herself to find someone to set her up with, instantly started asking questions. “Is that what I should be looking out for when I am trying to set you up? I gotta do a little Google search this afternoon,” she said. Jenna clearly takes her matchmaking duties very seriously!
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Hoda Kotb And Joel Schiffman’s 2022 Split
We’re glad to see that Hoda is open to finding love again following her split from the 64-year-old financier, who she was with for eight years! They got engaged in November 2019 and announced their separation in January 2022, after eagle-eyed Today viewers noticed that Hoda was no longer wearing her engagement ring.
“Joel and I have had a lot of prayerful and meaningful conversations over the holidays and we decided that we’re better as friends and parents than we are as an engaged couple,” she revealed on Today with Hoda & Jenna in January. “So we decided we are going to start this new year … on our new path as loving parents to our adorable, delightful children, and as friends.” And they appear to have been true to their word, as they have seemingly handled co-parenting like pros, with Hoda even praising Joel on Father’s Day via social media.
Hoda Details ‘New Chapter’
Hoda isn’t just (potentially) moving forward with her romantic life, as she also recently detailed an exciting new chapter in her daughter Haley Joy’s life too! During Hoda and Jenna’s recent interview with People, Hoda confirmed that her eldest daughter had reached a brand new milestone, and couldn’t wait to share it!
“Haley’s now going to be wearing undies and not pull-ups, so yesterday was the last day, and I said, ‘These are your last pull-ups.’ So as I was putting them on her I said, ‘Wow. I remember your very first diaper,'” she recalled. “I’m putting these Moana diapers on her, and I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ Everything changes. You blink, and they’re 6,” she added.
“I said, ‘I remember what it felt like trying to put it on your little body.’ And now we’re saying this will be the last time we’ll do this,” Hoda continued, before saying that she didn’t want to turn it “into a sad moment,” which Jenna praised her friend for! “I started to feel some melancholy feelings, I said, ‘Guess what? Tomorrow’s a new chapter. It’s all going to be brand new. Here we go,'” she added, while Jenna said that she admired how her friend always viewed “the world as beautiful and magic.”
“Hoda – and I learn so much from her in this, and I tell my husband constantly – sees the world as beautiful and magic,” Jenna said. “She sees something as simple as no more diapers as a miracle. And I think it’s all about how you look at things.”
