TODAY co-anchors Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie have each other’s backs — on-screen and off.
When Hoda’s 4-year-old daughter, Hope, experienced a health crisis in February 2023, Savannah sprang into action. In a new interview with People, Hoda recalled how Savannah took Hope’s big sister Haley, 7, on a field trip to a mall. And when Hoda was feeling overwhelmed at Hope’s birthday party that year, Savannah acted as a buffer.
“She goes, ‘I’ll hold court. I got it. You don’t have to worry about anything. I’ll talk to all these moms,’” Hoda told People.
Hope spent several days in the intensive care unit (ICU), and was hospitalized for more than a week. Hoda is not publicly disclosing Hope’s diagnosis, but described it as as “scary stretch."
“Any parent who’s been through a scary thing with their child understands. It’s like you just can’t believe that your child’s sick,” Hoda said. “You can’t believe that there’s nothing you can do. You can’t believe that no matter what you do, you can’t will it away or protect her, or all the things that we’re supposed to be doing as parents. And it’s a position I’ve never found myself in.”
During an emotional moment on TODAY in March 2023, Hoda told Savannah that she realized that “when your child is ill” just how much “gratitude you can have for people who helped you out.”
“I’m grateful for the doctors at Weill Cornell who were amazing and the nurses,” Hoda continued. “And I’m grateful to my family, and I’m grateful to friends like you who were there every single day. So, I want to say thank you for that. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Savannah replied.
While chatting with TODAY.com in August 2023, Hoda opened up about what she's learned from Hope.
“She has taught me that you’re stronger than you think you are. She has that ability to be optimistic and hopeful no matter what kind of challenges lay before you,” Hoda said. “She’s taught me that resilience comes in all kinds of packages and that kids are incredibly strong. She’s also taught me to find wonder in the smallest things.”
Hope's sunny personality inspired Hoda to write a new children's book, “Hope Is a Rainbow.”
“She’s a little child, but with a real kind of old spirit, an old soul," Hoda said on March 5. "There’s something about her in how she sees magic in everything."