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Hoda Kotb Celebrates Thanksgiving Without Ex Joel Schiffman After Reconciliation Speculation
Hoda Kotb celebrated Thanksgiving with her family, but there was one person noticeably absent from her dinner table — her ex-fiancé, Joel Schiffman. The pair split almost two years ago, but sparked speculation that they hadn’t ruled out the possibility of reconciling.
Hoda, 59, spent her Thanksgiving at her NYC home along with her siblings, mom and her kids, Haley Joy and Hope Catherine. She shared photos from their family dinner on Instagram, with the financier missing from the occasion.
The news anchor spent the morning commentating on the 2023 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade alongside coanchors Savannah Guthrie and Al Roker. After Hoda helped usher in the holiday season with the arrival of Santa Claus at the end of the parade, she headed off to join up with her children, whom she welcomed via adoption during her relationship with Joel, 65.
Hoda and Joel’s split initially came as a major shock to some Today viewers. Other fans of the show noticed the lack of Hoda’s engagement ring on her finger before she officially announced that she and Joel were going their separate ways. However, the longtime news anchor said she felt “really brave” after the announcement.
From the beginning, Hoda said that she and Joel planned on remaining friends.
“Joel and I have had a lot of prayerful and meaningful conversations over the holidays, and we decided that we are better as friends and parents than we are as an engaged couple, so we decided we are going to start this new year on our new path as loving parents to our adorably delightful children and as friends,” Hoda told viewers on January 31, 2022. “It’s not like something happened. They say sometimes relationships are meant to be there for a reason, a season or a lifetime, this was for a season.”
In the months since Hoda and Joel went their separate ways, the pair have been seen coparenting their two young daughters. Most recently, the exes were seen taking Haley, 6, and Hope, 4, trick-or-treating around New York City in matching costumes.
On November 16, an insider exclusively told Closer that Hoda was actually hoping for a reconciliation with Joel.
“She realized there really isn’t anyone better for her than Joel,” the source revealed. “Hoda’s hopeful that things are moving in the right direction. Her friends think there’s chemistry between them and Hoda’s privately confided that he’ll always be The One.”
Jenna Hager Bush, Hoda’s cohost, offered to set her up on a date in October 2022, and she happily accepted. However, no serious relationships materialized, and the insider said that Hoda realized that “no one compares to Joel.”
