Hoda Kotb has opened up about how “incredible” it was to turn 59 after taking a week off to celebrate her birthday with her family at her Long Island beach house.
When the Today star returned to the studio on Monday, she sharing her thoughts on aging and why she’s excited about turning 60, saying she had a “great birthday party.”
“I turned 59 this year, and I’m so happy to be 59 this year,” she told her co-host Jenna Bush Hager. ‘I feel so good about it. If you’re worried about aging, and I know aging is one thing. 59 is incredible. It’s been an amazing year.
Kotb spent the week with his mother, Sameha; his sister, Hala; his brother, Adel; his sister-in-law, Colleen; his nieces, Hannah and Ella; and her daughters, Haley and Hope.
Hoda Kotb opened up about her 59th birthday celebrations on the Today show on Monday after taking a week off to be with her family
The Today star rang in her birthday with her family at her beach house on Long Island
She joked that they slept on mattresses and walked on top of each other, noting that there weren’t enough towels or food, but they were still having a good time.
The journalist’s daughters, Haley, six, and Hope, four, even surprised her with breakfast in bed on her birthday on August 9, giving her a stack of pancakes topped with candles.
Kotb remembers feeling nothing but gratitude when she woke up surrounded by her loved ones.
“I was like, ‘I’m 59. I have two amazing children. I have my mother here, my sister, my brother and my nieces, and my sister-in-law,” she said. . “I kept thinking about myself, like I was smiling. I close your eyes and i smile, and if you do that, it’s like there’s a lot of good things to come.
“I feel like this year is going to be amazing…Haley was screaming, ‘My mom is 59!’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I am!’ I’m…and I’m so happy to have been that.
Kotb explained that she focused on day-to-day life instead of fearing aging and what the future might hold.
‘Look, life is a snap. Turn around, look what’s going on. Watch the news. You are here and then you are not. Life is like that, so you have to be in it. You can’t regret,” she told Bush Hager.
“I thought if I was 80 and God told me, ‘You’ll be 59 one more time. Go back. This is what it would be like to be in this incredible situation.
“I turned 59 this year, and I’m so happy to be 59 this year,” she told her co-host Jenna Bush Hager. ‘I feel so good about it’
Kotb spent the week with his mother, Sameha; his sister, Hala; his brother, Adel; his sister-in-law, Colleen; his nieces, Hannah and Ella; and her daughters, Haley and Hope
Kotb shared that she will sometimes close her eyes and imagine her life, including how she sees herself in her 60s.
“In fact, I feel so full. I can see how my 60s are going to feel, and I love that feeling. I want to think, “What’s my life going to be like?” I don’t want to sit here and say, “Oh my God, ugh,” she said, pointing to her face. “We don’t care, man…because 59 is glorious.”
Bush Hager told Kotb she couldn’t wait until they celebrated her 60th birthday together, but she noted she didn’t “want to rush 59.”
“I’m excited about every day, every birthday,” she replied.
Kotb was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 42 and emerged from treatment unable to conceive. For years, she thought motherhood was not on the cards for her.
She was in her early 50s when she adopted her daughters with ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman, 65, and is now a single mother after they split in January 2022.
Kotb’s daughters Haley, six, and Hope, four, even surprised her with breakfast in bed on her August 9 birthday.
The mother-of-two shared a video of herself blowing out the candles on her pancakes with her youngest child cuddled next to her
Kotb admitted on the show last year that she was worried about how much time she had left with her children because she was an older mother.
“You can’t help it – sometimes people come and say, ‘Wait, are you their mother? And it gives you that pause for a second. And your kids look around like, “Huh? What are you talking about?” It’s a hard thing to do,” she said.
“I remember thinking, ‘Why does this bother me? I’m not embarrassed to be (my age). I’m happy to be my age. It’s the perfect storm of my life. Two kids, this time, this job,” she continued. “Someone used to say, ‘It gets better later’ – it gets better later, but in between there are those times when you feel like an ouch.”
The mother-of-two explained that she doesn’t care if anyone thinks she’s ‘too old’ to be a mother, but these types of comments remind her that she can have less time with her children than other parents.
“One of the scary things about being an older mom is wondering how long you have. That’s a big thought and a big worry,” she said. calculations and that’s something I don’t like to do because it’s scary.”
Kotb noted that she didn’t want to “avoid” or “ignore” how much time she had left with her kids, but then “something magical happened” when she was spending time with her own mother.
“My mum came to visit and I looked at her and said, ‘At least 30 years older. At least. It’s 35 for Haley. It’s 33 for Hope,’ she said, becoming emotional. “But it makes me feel very full.”
