Inside Hoda Kotb’s Daughter Hope’s Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosis: Hospitalization and Treatment

Hoda Kotb revealed that her youngest daughter, Hope Catherine, has Type 1 diabetes. Her child went through a health scare and hospitalization leading up to her diagnosis.

Hoda Kotb Reveals Daughter’s Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosis

In February 2023, Hope was hospitalized in the ICU for an unspecified illness. Hoda took some time off from Today to be there for her child. The broadcaster returned to the show in March 2023 and explained why she was absent from the program.

“I’m so grateful she’s home. … I was waiting for that day to come. And we are watching her closely. I’m just so happy,” Hoda said at the time.

In January 2025, Hoda marked her final episode of the talk show after revealing she was stepping away to spend more time with her family. On May 28, 2025, Hoda appeared on Today to share an update on her life since leaving the talk show program as well as publicly revealing her daughter’s Type 1 diabetes diagnosis for the first time. Hoda, who is also a mom to daughter Haley, said that Hope’s diagnosis led to her getting a “priority check” in her life.

“I can be here and sweating what’s happening to Hope in the morning and in the night, or I can be there and feel relief that I can see,” she added.

“Hope is fine for most of the day. There are just moments where you have to watch her,” Hoda said while chatting with Craig Melvin and Savannah Guthrie during the episode. “I was totaling it up — five minutes at breakfast, five minutes at lunch, five minutes at dinner, sometimes overnight. Add that up, that’s a half-hour.”

“So, for 23 and a half hours,” she said. “She’s every other kid. So, I try to remember that.”

Hoda also opened up in an interview with People that same day about how Hope’s health issues were a driving factor in her decision to leave Today.

“I really wanted to and needed to be here to watch over her. So, whenever she needs anything, and it can happen at night, multiple times, I’m up — I’m up up up,” the TV personality explained. “But I would never, ever want Hope to one day grow up and say, ‘Oh, my mom left her job because [of me].’ It wasn’t that alone. But if you look at it cumulatively, it was a part of that decision.”

Hoda Kotb Opens Up About Daughter’s Treatment for Type 1 Diabetes

Hoda said that Hope was a “trooper” for going through treatment for her Type 1 diabetes.

“It’s kind of constant care for Hope. We’re monitoring her 24/7,” Hoda said.

“She was getting shots — four or five a day — every day for a year,” the mom of two added.

“Now she is getting them less frequently because we have some other means to get her what she needs, but there’s a lot to it, Some kids can have sweets and she can’t. If she’s up in the night, we have to take care of her at night.”

Hoda shared a positive update on Hope, saying, “She is a happy, healthy, rambunctious, amazing kid, and we have to watch her. Diabetes is a part of her, but not all of her. I hope it shapes her but never defines her.”

What Is Type 1 Diabetes?

Type 1 diabetes is a chronic condition in which “the pancreas makes little or no insulin. Insulin is a hormone the body uses to allow sugar (glucose) to enter cells to produce energy,” per Mayo Clinic. The disease “usually appears during childhood or adolescence.”

Per Cleveland Clinic, symptoms include excessive thirst, frequent urination, fatigue, excessive hunger and blurred vision. The symptoms “typically start mild and get progressively worse or more intense, which could happen over several days, weeks or months.”

Hoda told Today.com that Hope “looked like she had the flu” leading up to her hospitalization.

“And you get there and you realize that it’s not that at all. And it took us going to the hospital to figure it out,” she said.