After eight years, the couple ended their engagement and called it quits.
After eight years together, Hoda Kotb and Joel Schiffman have called it quits.
The Today With Hoda & Jenna co-anchor made the announcement during Monday's episode of her morning show, sharing that they decided they were "better as friends and parents" than as an engaged couple. The two are parents to two daughters, 4-year-old Haley and 2-year-old Hope.
It had been two years since Kotb and Schiffman got engaged, and were forced to postpone their wedding amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The 57-year-old morning show anchor -- who was previously married to Burzis Kanga from 2005 to 2008 -- shared that they began the new year apart and will focus on their "new path."
As their time together comes to an end, ET is taking a look back at their relationship.
2013: The Beginning
Kotb and Schiffman met at an event that she was speaking at with the "Wall Street guys." She told Andy Cohen during an episode of Watch What Happens Live that when she was signing autographs, one guy asked her to sign a photo for him.
"I asked someone from the place. I asked, 'Will you find out his situation?’ Because I didn't know anything about him…He didn't have a wedding ring, but that's all I knew," she told Cohen, adding that a contact from the event emailed him, who emailed her back and set up a date. "Then she emailed him and he emailed me and asked me out on a date. We've been going out for two years."
2015: Going Public
After quietly dating for two years, the couple went public with their relationship. Among their first red carpets together was at the Greenwich International Film Festival's Changemaker Gala on June 6, 2015 in Greenwich, Connecticut.
2016: Moving in Together
During an episode of SiriusXM's The Hoda Show, the journalist shared that she and her beau had taken a big step in their relationship.
"It's a little weird to be in your 50s and we're like, 'Hey, we're moving in!’ It's like we're kids. It's so weird. It's been so long since I've lived with someone, I'm a little concerned with me, not him," she jokingly said. "Like, how I am, as a human? You know, it's not going to be easy for poor Joel."
At the time, she also said that she was "afraid to tell my own mother that I was moving in with my boyfriend."
"I was afraid. I don’t why! I know it sounds weird. I’ve been married, it’s like whatever," she continued. "Anyway, it’s all happening. Hocus pocus. We’re shopping, we’re cohabitating. It’s a little weird, right?"
2017: They Expand Their Family
In February of 2017, Kotb announced on her show that she had adopted a baby girl.
"That little girl, Haley Joy -- I’m crying -- is my daughter,” she told viewers. "I adopted her, and you can hear her, that’s her crying. She’s a Valentine’s baby. She’s a little nugget. She is the love of my life."
2018: Marriage on the Brain
During an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in January 2018, Kotb said that she knew she'd "chosen the right man" after he wholeheartedly got behind her wanting to adopt.
"I had thought about having kids for a long, long time. But one day I was sitting with my boyfriend and I said to him, 'I'm going to have to talk to you about something because I can't push it down anymore, push it away... Don't answer now," she said. "Take a day, take a week, take some time. But I want to talk to you about this,'" she recalled at the time. "And he said, 'OK, what is it?' And I said, 'I would like to explore adoption with you.' He looked at me and said, 'I don't need a day.'"
In March 2018, ET spoke with Kotb about potentially marrying the financier.
"I have never teased a marriage -- the internet is teasing a marriage," she said. "I met the right man at the right time in my life, and Joel is the perfect fit for me. The fact that I found the man I've dreamt of and the life I've dreamt of at this stage in my life should let other women know sometimes if you wait, it comes later."
"Joel is not only a great life partner, he will be with me the rest of my life," Kotb continued. "I have no doubt he's an unbelievable father to Haley. He literally comes home and says, 'Is she sleeping? Oh no, did I miss her?' And when she says, 'Dada' and stumbles over to him, I don't know that there's a sweeter sound."
2019: Another Baby and Engagement
In April of 2019, Kotb and Schiffman became a family of four after the couple adopted their second daughter, Hope Catherine Kotb.
"It's a girl! It's a girl! Her name is Hope," she revealed through tears during a live phone call on Today. "Oh my god, you guys. First of all, she's laying on the boppy pillow right now, I'm feeding her and I can't believe it. In your life, you think that maybe you've gotten what you deserve, but man, I'm so happy."
"Joel and I were standing there when they hand you the baby and it’s the closest thing to a live birth I think you'll ever see," she continued. "But anyway, in that moment I was like, my god, my heart just grew! It’s amazing. Anyway, I can’t believe it’s happening, y'all. I can't."
In November 2019, Kotb announced on Today that she and Schiffman were engaged after six years together. He proposed after a dinner on the beach during their tropical vacation.
"Joel proposed to me. It was a good trip," she told her co-anchors. "I was totally shocked... We went on our usual vacation. We ended up having a little dinner on the beach. And I was like, we were done with the dinner, I was eating the churros, I looked in the bottom of the bowl, and he was like, 'I have something else I'd like to say.' And he said some beautiful things and then he got down on one knee and then he said, 'Will you be my wife?' I said, 'Yes!'"
2020: Strong Bond
Kotb's fiancé made his first appearance on the very first episode of Hoda & Jenna & Friends in February of that year.
"When everybody is busy in life, they’re busy. And Joel had a really, really, really super busy day at work and I didn’t even ask him to come," she recalled, as Jenna Bush Hager's husband, Henry Hager, was also present. "I said, you know what ,I'm not going to bring it up because I don't want him to feel bad and say he can't come."
"And then I actually sent him a text because he was at work and I said, 'Hey, if you want to come any Thursday,'" Kotb continued. "And he said, 'How about this Thursday? I’m so glad you asked.' Anyway it's super sweet."
In June, however, the bride-to-be emotionally shared on Today that she and Schiffman had to postpone their wedding due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"We are kind of guessing that it will [get postponed]," Kotb expressed. "It was a destination wedding, which would mean people getting on planes. We were kind of holding out to see what could happen, but the destination that we were going to is turning into one of the hot spots. So it looks like we may have to postpone."
"We're kinda bummed about that because the place we were going is, like, our favorite place on Earth," she continued. "We love it there. I know we should say, 'Who cares? It doesn't matter.' But we waited a long time, so I sure hope we get to have it. I don't know when."
In August, she told ET about how much of a "bummer" it was to postpone their special day.
"We did have to officially postpone it, which was a super bummer, because it was going to involve people getting on planes," Kotb expressed. "We haven't picked our new date. We're just waiting to see what is what with everything."
In October, Kotb told ET that she and her fiancé had discussed adopting their third child together and already filled out the paperwork.
"You know what, Joel and I have had this conversation because -- you feel like you get a limited of time on Earth and your heart expands, and sometimes you don't realize your heart's ability to expand until you've filled [it] and sometimes you think you're at the top, and then you realize that there's more room," she said. "And we wondered, you know, would our family be better with another child? Do we have enough love, do we have enough time, you know, will we be a better family unit? And the answer to all those questions seems to be 'yes, we would be.'"
"But you can't control how life works. Like, all we can do is put it into the universe and fill out papers and then wait and if it happens, wow, you know, that was meant to be," she continued, adding that adopting a third child was "in God's hands."
2021: Wedding Planning Continues
When it came to the wedding, everything was on track, with Kotb sharing in April 2021 who her maid of honor would be.
"Yes, I would have a maid of honor. It will be Hala, my sister," Kotb shared on Today, before touching on having to pause her nuptials amid the pandemic. "You know what's weird is you plan something and you had it all in stone and then everything got uprooted. And now we're planning it again and there's something weird. We're like, 'We're doing it. Should we just do it this summer? Should we wait?' We don't know."
2022: The End
On Jan. 31, the morning show anchor shared that she and Schiffman were no longer a couple going into this new year.
"People have written in and asked why I wasn't wearing my engagement ring," Kotb shared on Today With Hoda & Jenna. "Joel and I have had, we've had a lot of prayerful and really meaningful conversations over the holidays, and we decided that we're better as friends and parents than we are as an engaged couple."
"We decided that we are going to start this new year and begin it on our new path, as loving parents to our adorable, delightful children and as friends," she said. "It's not like something happened. They say that sometimes relationships are meant to be there for a reason or a season or for a lifetime, and I feel like ours was meant to be there for a season."
She did admit that she had been struggling with the announcement, noting how "weird and awkward" it was to share it with the world. "But I think a lot of women know what this feels like in this moment, to be changing course in life. And I feel really brave in this moment, I really do," she added.
For more on the former couple, see below.
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