Hoda Kotb on Telling Daughters Haley, 4, and Hope, 2, About Their Adoption: 'You Came from My Heart'
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Hoda Kotb has a sweet way of talking to her daughters about adoption.
The Today co-host appears on the first-ever episode of PEOPLE's new podcast Me Becoming Mom, opening up about her road to parenthood and welcoming her daughters — daughters Hope Catherine, 2, and Haley Joy, 4 — via adoption.
"I tell them they were adopted, and I'm not sure if they 100 percent know what that means," says Kotb, who shares her kids with fiancé Joel Schiffman. "I always say, 'You didn't come from Mommy's tummy, you came from my heart.' And they understand that."
"They said, 'Did a baby ever come from you tummy?' And I said, 'No. It didn't.' And [my daughter] said, 'Okay, I'm adopted.' They say that all the time," Kotb continues.
Hoda Kotb/Instagram
"We haven't had the big discussions about it, because I think that is to come. But in this moment, they know that they are adopted," she explains to host Zoë Ruderman, Head of Digital at PEOPLE, adding, "I tell them how cool it is. I tell them that their cousin Ella was adopted and, you know, 'All the cool kids were adopted' — they get such a kick out of that."
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
The 12-episode weekly Me Becoming Mom podcast explores the various roads to motherhood through different interviews with both celebrity guests and experts in the field.
Topics on the show include IVF, adoption, surrogacy, single parenthood, same-sex couples, home births, pregnancy loss, unexpected and surprising birth stories, among other subjects.
Upcoming guests on the show include Alyssa Milano, Padma Lakshmi, Tamron Hall and more.
New episodes of Me Becoming Mom drop weekly on Thursdays wherever you stream podcasts.
