If there’s one thing that Hoda Kotb won’t ever take for granted, it’s getting to be a mom to her beautiful one-year-old daughter, Haley Joy Kotb. Hoda’s dreams came true when she adopted Haley Joy in 2017, after she previously battled breast cancer 10 years ago. Sadly, the treatment which saved Hoda’s life took a huge toll on her body and left her unable to conceive any children of her own.

“I knew after cancer, and after all of that, they basically said, ‘You could freeze your eggs, you could do this, you could do that, but it’s unlikely that anything would work.’ And, I remembered almost blocking how devastating that was,” Hoda, 54, confessed during a recent interview for the Thrive Global Podcast.

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Not only was the Today co-host trying to cope with the fact that she would never carry her own children but she was also trying to find happiness again after her two-year marriage to Burzis Kanga ended in divorce.

“At the time, I was going through a separation that would lead to a divorce. It was like, horrible things were happening at the same time, and I kept thinking this is an avalanche of pain. How do people, how does anyone deal with this?” she said. “We were just brought up to believe in God. We were all about that, and I feel like when you have a relationship with God, and I feel like I’ve had endless, countless, abundant conversations about it. Sometimes you think, can he hear me? Does he hear me? Am I just talking to myself? Is it for real?”

But everything changed once Hoda adopted Haley Joy. “I think when Haley arrived, I didn’t have any doubt in that belief, but when Haley arrived, it was personified. Literally, when I watch her now, I just feel like she’s proof of everything. Like, everything. Yeah. She’s the best!” Hoda gushed.

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