EXCLUSIVEBaby No. 3? Hoda Kotb & Fiancé Joel Schiffman Would 'Love To Have A Boy'
Hoda Kotb's destination wedding to financier Joel Schiffman may be on hold, but she’s making major plans in the meantime. A source tells OK! that the 56-year-old is “seriously exploring” the possibility of adding another baby to their brood.
“Hoda and Joel feel like adoption was the best choice they ever made,” the source says of the couple, who share daughters Haley, 3, and Hope, 17 months. “They’re so happy with parenthood and tell their friends it’s the reason they feel so young and energetic.”
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“They’d love to have a boy,” the source adds of Kotb and Schiffman, who also has 26-year-old daughter Kyle from a previous relationship.
According to the source, Kotb and the 62-year-old are weighing all their options, from adopting again to surrogacy. “They’re both healthy, and money is no issue, so either route could work,” notes the source, adding that friends may get a baby announcement before a new save-the-date. “Hoda and Joel hope to have a little one this time next year — if not sooner!”
Back in November 2019, the TODAY show co-anchor announced that Schiffman proposed to her during a romantic vacation together.
"I have to tell you something... A friend of mine — a friend of ours — asked me to let you guys in on a secret," she began telling her co-hosts, Al Roker, Savannah Guthrie, Jenna Bush Hager and Craig Melvin on air. "I'll give you her initials, her initials are Hoda Kotb, and she's engaged."
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The entire group jumped with joy and started shouting. The bride-to-be added, "Joel proposed to me!"
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"We went to our usual vacation, we ended up having a little dinner on the beach," Kotb said, explaining how the romantic moment went down. "I was eating the churros, licking the bottom of the bowl and he was like, 'I have something else I would like to say,' and he said some beautiful things, and he got down on one knee, and said, 'Would you be my wife,' and I said...'YES!'"
Kotb's co-hosts quickly asked how their daughters reacted to the exciting news. While laughing, she said, "How are we going to explain, your parents are going to get married. We're still trying to figure out that part."
A few months later, anchor and cohost Jenna Bush-Hager debuted their new fourth hour of the show, Hoda & Jenna & Friends, in February. Kotb's fiancé sweetly sat in the front row of the live audience at Rockefeller Plaza. As the Oklahoma native made her way to the stage past an excited crowd, she became visibly emotional when she enveloped Schiffman in a hug. This was her fiancé’s first appearance on the morning show.
