‘Today’ Show Alum Reveals Secret Split From Wife

Former Today host Jenna Wolfe and her wife, NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk, quietly separated nearly two years ago. Wolfe revealed to PEOPLE earlier this month that she and her wife of eight years split in September 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic put a strain on their relationship “because we both worked from home.”

At the time of their separation, Wolfe was an anchor for Fox Sports and Gosk, whom she married in 2013, was covering news for NBC. As the pandemic forced many studios to close, both Wolfe and Gosk were doing live shots from their apartment in midtown Manhattan, where their two children – daughter Harper, whom the couple welcomed in 2013, and son Quinn, whom they welcomed in 2015 – were also doing Zoom school.

“There’s a lot of beautiful ego that comes with one person being on television. But when there’s two people on television, plus both kids trying to do Zoom school in a Manhattan apartment, there’s just no space anywhere. We decided after that, in order to preserve the relationship, it was better that Steph moved out,” Wolfe said, and that she and Gosk are “great friends and fantastic parents” to their two kids.

Wolfe told PEOPLE that she and Gosk initially kept their separation a secret as they “were just waiting for the right time to tell people because often, this is looked at as a failure. Like, ‘Oh, your marriage failed.’ But I’m like, ‘Or, maybe we figured out a way to save the family unit.’ We still have each other and we always will.”

Her split from Gosk was only one source of heartbreak for Wolfe during the pandemic, as her mother was also diagnosed with aggressive Stage 3 breast and lymph node cancer. According to the former NBC anchor, her mother “endured chemo, radiation, loss of her hair and fingernails” and “made it out.” Her mother’s diagnosis ultimately encouraged Wolfe to get tested for the BRCA gene, and after she tested positive for it, she decided immediately to have a preventive hysterectomy and double mastectomy. Wolfe told PEOPLE that “there was no hesitation about the surgeries. When I get something in my head, it’s, let’s just do it, let’s move forward. And that’s how I have lived my life.” Reflecting on the past few years and the rollercoaster ride they’ve been, she added, “for the first time in my life, I don’t have answers to big important questions. And I have to be okay with that.”