Hoda Kotb is showing love and admiration for Selena Gomez’s bravery in sharing her personal journey with motherhood. After the Rare Beauty founder revealed that she’s unable to carry children due to her complicated medical history, Kotb, who has faced her own fertility challenges, expressed heartfelt support.
“I think it was something she always dreamt would happen,” Kotb said during the September 10 episode of Today, speaking to co-host Jenna Bush Hager. “You know how you kind of write your story in your head? ‘I’ll get married here or there, or at this age, and then I’ll have kids,’ and you can kind of imagine it. I think that was probably the toughest part for her.”
Kotb, who adopted daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, with her ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman, related to Gomez’s experience and applauded her openness to exploring other ways of becoming a mom. “Families come in all shapes and sizes, and they are your kids 100 thousand percent,” Kotb added.
Gomez, who has lupus and underwent a kidney transplant in 2017, recently shared in an interview with Vanity Fair that she had to come to terms with not being able to carry children. “It was something I had to grieve for a while,” the Emilia Pérez star said.
“It’s not necessarily the way I envisioned it,” Gomez continued. “I thought it would happen the way it happens for everyone. But I’m in a much better place with that now. I find it a blessing that there are wonderful people willing to do surrogacy or adoption, which are both huge possibilities for me.”
Kotb’s own journey to motherhood has been filled with challenges. The veteran journalist was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and underwent a mastectomy, which made it impossible for her to become pregnant. Although she is now cancer-free, Kotb reflected on her path to parenthood during her Making Space podcast, sharing how grateful she is for her daughters.
“Sometimes I wonder, ‘How did this happen? How did I get this?’” Kotb told E! News in 2021. “I used to feel almost undeserving of it. But I don’t anymore. Something shifted in me where I was like, ‘You know what? I’m worthy of these children, I’m worthy of myself. I’m enough just as I am. I will nurture and love these little girls as long as God lets me have them.’”
For both Gomez and Kotb, the journey to motherhood may have been unexpected, but it’s clear they both embrace their unique paths with resilience and love.
