WASHINGTON — "TODAY" Show co-host Hoda Kotb announced Monday morning that she and longtime boyfriend Joel Schiffman have broken up, ending their two-year engagement.
"Joel and I have 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," Kotb described. "They say sometimes relationships are meant to be there for a reason, for a season, or for a lifetime. And I feel like ours was meant to be there for a season."
The pair got engaged in Nov. 2019 and had been together for six years at the time he proposed. They have two adopted daughters together, 4-year-old Hayley and 2-year-old Hope..
Despite the breakup, Kotb said she and Schiffman would continue to be friends and co-parent their daughters. She called him "a great guy" and said she was privileged to be able to spend eight years with him.
"We decided that we are going to start this new year and begin it kind of on our new path as loving parents to our adorable, delightful children, and as friends," she told co-host Jenna Bush, along with viewers watching at home.
Much of the pair's life as a couple has been in the public's eye, with Kotb sharing details about the engagement and the adoptions of their daughters with the audience of the daily morning show.
Kotb said she decided to share the news publicly after receiving messages from viewers who asked why she wasn't wearing her engagement ring any more. She added that she felt better now that she said it.