Hoda Kotb opened up about one of the cruelest criticisms she’s faced as a public figure and a parent during a heartbreaking segment on “Today With Hoda & Jenna.”
“I’ll never forget this. I got a letter that was addressed to me in somebody’s handwriting to my house,” she said Wednesday, explaining that she thought the letter possibly contained a picture that someone wanted her to sign.
Instead, the reality was much different.
“It was something along the lines of: ‘How dare you, bringing a child into this world at your age? Don’t you know what you’re doing to that child?’” said the morning show host.
“It went on and on,” the 58-year-old added, noting that that the criticism cut deep. “[It] took my breath away because that actually was my ‘ouch.’ I was scared — like, is this something that is smart for me to do?”
Worse still, Kotb considered all the time and effort that someone put into writing and mailing the hurtful letter.
“When I read it, I thought, ‘Someone took a pen and sat at a table ... and wrote that down, and got a stamp and mailed it’ — like, went through all that trouble to say that to me,” she said, adding that it felt worse than criticism she’s received online that can be easily typed out.
Kotb is the mother of two girls: 6-year old Haley Joy and 3-year-old Hope Catherine, with the older child adopted in 2017 and the younger in 2019.
The “Today” host recently took a leave of absence from the show to deal with some health issues that Hope faced.
Luckily, Hope is doing better, Kotb said during her first day back at work in March.
“My youngest, Hope, was in the ICU [intensive care unit] for a few days and in the hospital for a little more than a week,” Kotb said at the time. “I’m so grateful she’s home. She is back home. I was waiting for that day to come. And we are watching her closely. I’m just so happy.”