Hoda Kotb Shares Daughter’s Medical Diagnosis: ‘We’re Monitoring Her 24/7’

Hoda Kotb is giving an update on her daughter Hope’s medical diagnosis in the new issue of People magazine.

In 2023, Kotb took a leave of absence from the “Today” show after Hope was admitted to the hospital for two weeks. 

Now, Hoda shares that the 6-year-old was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, which influenced Kotb’s decision to leave the “Today” show in January so she could spend more time with Hope and her older daughter Haley, 8.

According to the Mayo Clinic, “Type 1 diabetes… is a chronic condition. In this condition, the pancreas makes little or no insulin. Insulin is a hormone the body uses to allow sugar (glucose) to enter cells to produce energy… Treatment is directed toward managing the amount of sugar in the blood using insulin, diet and lifestyle to prevent complications.”

The 60-year-old explained, “It’s kind of constant care for Hope. We’re monitoring her 24/7.”

As for treatments, Kotb said, “She was getting shots — four or five a day — every day for a year. Now she is getting them less frequently because we have some other means to get her what she needs, but there’s a lot to it, Some kids can have sweets and she can’t. If she’s up in the night, we have to take care of her at night.”

Hoda went on, “She is a happy, healthy, rambunctious, amazing kid, and we have to watch her. Diabetes is a part of her, but not all of her. I hope it shapes her but never defines her.” 

Kotb said life as an anchor made it hard to be there for Hope.

“I really wanted to and needed to be here to watch over her. So, whenever she needs anything, and it can happen at night, multiple times, I’m up — I’m up up up,” she said. “But I would never, ever want Hope to one day grow up and say, ‘Oh, my mom left her job because [of me].’ It wasn’t that alone. But if you look at it cumulatively, it was a part of that decision.” 

She said her life looks a little different these days, after leaving “Today.”

Hoda wakes up at 4:30 a.m. and starts her day with meditation and journaling. She gets the girls ready and they join a neighborhood group to walk to school. Afterward, she works out or plays tennis before jumping into work on her new wellness brand, Joy 101.

After school, Haley and Hope are busy with activities and Hoda even finds some time to herself. “I pick up my guitar a lot more just because I can,” Kotb shared. “I go on walks with the other moms from the burbs here after dinner and I love that. Things I didn’t do before because I was too tired.”