Hoda Kotb, 59, 'Totally Secure' in Being an Older Mom to Daughters Hope, 4, and Haley, 6: 'I Don't Feel Any Ounce of Shame'

Hoda Kotb got candid about being an older mom to her two adorable daughters, Hope, 4, and Haley, 6.

On the Thursday, December 14 episode of Today with Hoda & Jenna, Kotb, 59, discussed her experience becoming a mother later in life while referencing Sienna Miller’s recent Vogue interview, where she spoke about being pregnant at age 41.

Kotb — who adopted Haley at age 52 and Hope at age 55 — shares her kids with ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman, whom she split from in January 2022.

While speaking with the news outlet, Miller stated, “I’d love to get to a point where I didn’t feel the need to make a joke of my being older and having a baby. To show I'm in on the joke.”

In response Kotb reflected on this coping strategy, saying, “I think a lot of people do that, like you want to beat them to the punch, so you make the joke about, oh, I'm an older mom or if you feel heavy … you make the joke about it. I was always a fat kid. That's the joke you make so no one else can make it.”

However, the TV personality noted she does not feel the same way about her situation.

"I am so happy and fulfilled with my decision that I don't feel any ounce of shame,” she stated.

"Hoda doesn't feel like she needs a joke," co-host Jenna Bush Hager chimed in as Kotb nodded in agreement. "Because she's so delighted by them that when you lead with delight, guess what follows? Delight! When you lead with enthusiasm and this has to do with everything, people are enthusiastic back."

"I love that you're totally secure in it," Bush Hager, 42, added before Kotb called her daughters “the best decisions I've ever made."

Although the mother-of-two feels secure in her choice now, in a 2020 episode of the NBC show, Kotb recalled a hater claiming she was too old to become a mother.

"I got a physical letter in the mail ... from a woman who wrote, 'Who do you think you are, having kids at that age?' I literally read it and thought, 'Oh my God, I can't believe someone put a stamp on it and sent it,' " she said at the time.

Kotb noted she “literally tore it up" upon receiving it and "felt horrible in that moment, because there is something that bothers you inside about that."

"But then I thought, 'Who would take a piece of paper and a pen and write that and fold it and put it in the envelope with a stamp and go to the trouble of mailing it?' It took effort," the longtime Today star continued.

The celeb confessed it was "scary" to think about "how much time" she has with her youngsters.

"As an older mom, I think there are a lot of beautiful parts and challenges too,” she explained. “I see all the good parts about being an older mom. Like, I'm in my own skin, I know who I am, I've got much more patience and love and all that stuff. But along with that also comes the fact that you're an older mother.”

Kotb then admitted people have had a shocked reaction when they find out she has kiddos.

She remembered a moment when someone asked, “'Wait, you're the mother?'"

"And it gives you this pause for a second. And your kids look around like, 'Huh? What are you talking about?' It's a tough thing to do," she added.

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"I remember thinking, 'Why does that bother me? I'm not embarrassed to be my age. I'm happy at my age. It's the perfect storm of my life. Two kids, this time, this job.' Someone was saying, 'It gets greatest later' — it does get greater later, but in between, there are these moments that you feel an 'Ouch,'" she concluded.