'Today': Hoda Kotb Gets Emotional Honoring Her Mom Ahead of Mother's Day

By Daniel S. Levine

Today Show co-anchor Hoda Kotb shared two important memories involving her mother, Sameha Kotb, before Mother's Day on Wednesday. Kotb, 58, recalled how special it was to see her mom hold her own children, especially because she never thought that moment would happen. Sameha was also one of the last people Kotb saw before she had a double mastectomy.

"I have been through an illness, and the idea of getting to a point of having my own children was not even imaginable to me," Kotb said Wednesday. When she was about to go into surgery, her doctor made a vow to her "terrified" mother. The doctor said, "Ms. Kotb, I'm going to take care of your little girl and bring her home," Kotb recalled.

Kotb was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. She became a mom in 2017 when she adopted Haley Joy, now 6. She also adopted Hope, now 4, in 2019. The This Just Speaks to Me author teared up as she recalled the moment Sameha held Haley for the first time.

"I remember when I placed Haley in my mom's arms, and I thought to myself, who would have ever thought that could happen?" Kotb said on Today. "From that moment there in the hospital to this moment, watching my mom hold my children. It's like, God is good."

Kotb's children refer to Sameha as Tata, an informal word for grandmother in Lebanese Arabic. "She loves her grandkids and they love her beyond," Kotb said. Her mother is also an eternal optimist.

"She falls in love over and over and over again with people, with places, with a new dish," Kotb explained. "She wakes up happy. I don't care if there's a hurricane approaching. She'll look outside and go, 'Maybe not this moment, but it will be nice in about an hour.'"

This is a difficult Mother's Day for Kotb as it comes just weeks after Hope was hospitalized. Kotb was missing from Today for weeks while her daughter was being treated in the ICU. Hope has since been released from the hospital and Kotb returned to Today in early March. She kept the details of Hope's health scare private. When she returned, she thanked everyone for their help and support.

"You know what I realized too, Savannah, is like, when your child is ill, the amount of gratitude you can have or people who helped you out," Kotb told co-anchor Savannah Guthrie in March. "I'm grateful for the doctors, who were amazing, and the nurses, and I'm grateful to my family and I'm grateful to friends like you who were there every single day. So I want to say thank you for that. I love you." Kotb also thanked viewers on Instagram for their prayers, adding, "I am so profoundly touched."

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