Hoda Kotb has returned to NBC’s Today, after a two-week absence that led to widespread panic and concern over her well-being. It was revealed on Friday that her absence was due to a “family health matter” and that she would be returning soon.
Returning to Today on Monday morning, Kotb revealed that her youngest daughter, three-year-old Hope, had been “in the ICU for a few days, and then in the hospital for a little more than a week.”
“I’m so grateful she’s home… I was waiting for that day to come, and we are watching her closely. I’m just so happy,” Kotb told her co-host, Savannah Guthrie, who had also just returned to Today after testing positive for Covid-19.
Reflecting on her past few weeks Kotb said that “When your child is ill, the amount of gratitude you can have for people who helped you out. So, I’m grateful for the doctors at Weill Cornell, 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,” she told Guthrie. “So, I want to say thank you for that. I love you.”
“I love you too. You have a lot of friends out there,” Guthrie responded before they both redirected the conversation and began discussing the news.
Ahead of her return, Kotb took to social media to share a quote by Christopher Reeve that read: “Once you choose hope, anything’s possible.”
