Hoda Kotb has revealed that her youngest daughter Hope has been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, two years after she was rushed to hospital.

The 60-year-old longtime co-anchor of the Today show made a comeback to the program on Wednesday morning. During her return, she discussed her daughter’s diagnosis with Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin.

Speaking candidly about Hope’s health for the first time, mom-of-two Hoda said that she is ‘constantly monitoring’ her six-year-old.

‘Hope is fine for most of the day. There are just moments where you have to watch her,’ she explained.

‘When you calculate it — five minutes during breakfast, five minutes at lunch, five minutes at dinner, sometimes even overnight. When you add it all up, it totals to about half an hour. So, for the remaining 23 and a half hours, she’s just like any other kid, and I keep that in mind.’

While spending more time with her daughters was the main reason she left the Today show, Hope’s condition ‘definitely weighed in’ on her exit.

‘For anyone who has a child with Type 1 diabetes, especially a young child, you are always on alert, always vigilant, and constantly monitoring their condition, which is what I did throughout my time [at Today],’ she explained.

‘You’re distracted. You just get a priority check in your life.

Hoda Kotb has revealed that her youngest daughter Hope has been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes

The 60-year-old TV star pictured with her daughters Hope and Haley, whom she co-parents with her ex-fiancé, Joel Schiffman

‘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.’

Hope’s health issues began over two years ago. In February 2023, Hoda took two weeks off from the Today show due to a ‘family health matter,’ she shared at the time.

She later revealed that her youngest daughter had been hospitalized due to a sudden, unspecified illness.

Hope, who was four at the time, spent several days in the intensive care unit and a little over a week in the hospital.

Speaking to Savannah on the show at the time, Hoda said: ‘My youngest Hope was in the ICU for a few days and then the hospital for a little more than a week.

‘I’m so grateful she is home, she is back home. I was waiting for that day to come. And we are watching her closely. I’m just so happy.’

Hoda then began to tear up as she paid tribute to all of the doctors and medical staff who took care of her daughter, before thanking her family and friends for all of their support during the difficult time.

‘And you know what I realized too? When your child is ill, the amount of gratitude you can have for people who have helped you out,’ she explained.

Hope’s (middle) health issues began in February 2023 when she spent a few days in the ICU  

Discussing Hope’s health, Hoda explained she is ‘fine for most of the day. There are just moments where you have to watch her’

Hoda quit the Today show to spend more time with her daughters Hope, six, and Haley, eight

‘I’m grateful for the doctors at Weill Cornell who were amazing and the nurses and I’m grateful to my family and I’m grateful to friends like you who were there every single day.

‘I want to say thank you for that. I love you.’

In March 2024, one year after Hope’s health scare, Hoda shared an update that things had stabilized and her family is focused on managing Hope’s health condition in the long-term. 

Hoda shares daughters Hope and Haley, eight, with her ex fiancé, Joel Schiffman. 

Recalling Hope’s early symptoms of diabetes, Hoda said that her little one ‘looked like she had the flu, and we literally had to race to the hospital.’

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

The Cleveland Clinic says that Type 1 diabetes occurs when the immune system mistakenly destroys cells in the pancreas that produce insulin.

Insulin is a hormone that regulates the amount of sugar in the blood by allowing glucose from the food we eat to enter cells, which use it for energy.