Hoda Kotb has spent much of her life smiling in front of millions — but behind the scenes, she has endured a remarkable journey through heartbreak, illness and rediscovered love. Today, she is widely known as one of America’s most beloved broadcasters on NBC’s Today, yet her path to happiness has been anything but straightforward.

Before she ever stepped onto the famous morning show set in 2007, Hoda built her career as a reporter and anchor in New Orleans — a city that would become central not only to her professional life but to her personal story as well. It was there, at a Valentine’s Day fundraiser for the American Heart Association, that she met Burzis Kanga, the charismatic tennis coach from the University of New Orleans who would become her first husband.

Their romance was fast and full of excitement. After years of on-and-off dating, Kanga proposed in May 2005. That December, they exchanged vows in a beach ceremony in Punta Cana, promising forever as they stood in the Dominican Republic sun. Hoda gushed to friends and colleagues that marriage was wonderful — fun, even — something she wished she had embraced sooner.

But real life soon swept in. Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2006, flooding Kanga’s home and disrupting their world. At the same time, Burzis was coping with his father’s declining health. Stress piled high as both of their lives shifted rapidly and painfully.

Then came the most crushing blow of all.

Shortly after their wedding, Hoda received a diagnosis that would change everything: breast cancer. As she processed the fear, the uncertainty, the prospect of a life suddenly different, her marriage was simultaneously buckling under pressure neither of them were prepared to handle.

Hoda filed for divorce in February 2007. By early 2008, the marriage that had once felt so joyful was legally over. And even though they parted ways, Kanga later reflected that he still admired her deeply. He acknowledged that immaturity — both his and hers — contributed to their breakup, along with impossible circumstances. “It was a difficult time,” he said years later, insisting he would always cherish their memories.

Hoda has since spoken candidly about how overwhelming that season of life was. She was in her early forties. She was scared. She was divorcing. She felt stuck in a job that no longer fit. “I was branded by my disease,” she once said — terrified to speak her truth out loud. But cancer did more than frighten her. It shaped her resilience. It rewrote how she saw herself. She eventually realized that while cancer may be a part of her story, it would never define it.

She underwent a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery in March 2007, and slowly began to rebuild — physically, emotionally and spiritually. Her voice grew louder. Her joy grew bigger. And her courage became the foundation of the version of Hoda the world now knows: warm, strong, honest, unafraid.

Then, in 2013, she found something she once feared would never return: love.

During a speaking appearance for financial professionals, Hoda met New York financier Joel Schiffman — a man with a soft smile and a gentle presence who would ultimately restore her belief in partnership. Their connection was natural. Easy. A kind of love that arrives quietly but stays with certainty.

Joel was the first to say “I love you.” And Hoda, after a brief moment of stunned silence, said it back. In interviews, she has described their relationship as one that feels like home. “I’m going to be with Joel until my last breath,” she once said.

The couple moved in together in 2016, and soon after, made the decision that would open Hoda’s heart wider than she ever knew possible: they adopted their first daughter, Haley Joy, in 2017. Two years later, baby sister Hope joined the family. Motherhood — something Hoda once thought cancer had taken from her — arrived just in time. It was, she has said, “the best part of my life.”

In November 2019, after six years together, Joel proposed during a romantic trip to Mexico — catching his future bride completely off guard. Hoda shared the engagement news live on Today, her co-hosts exploding into cheers as she held up her diamond ring surrounded by blue sapphires. It was a dazzling symbol of a love story that waited until the timing was right.

From whirlwind romance to devastating endings… from illness to triumph… from fear to family… Hoda Kotb has lived a life full of chapters she never expected. And while her wedding to Joel has been postponed and reimagined multiple times, her belief in joy remains unshaken.

Hoda’s story reminds the world that life rarely follows the plan we thought we had — but sometimes, the detours lead us exactly where we’re meant to be. She survived heartbreak. She confronted cancer head-on. And in the most beautiful timing, love — both romantic and maternal — returned to her world.

Not late.
Not early.
Right on time.