Hoda Kotb Hints Why She and Ex-Fiance Joel Schiffman Broke Up

Hoda Kotb and her ex-fiancé, Joel Schiffman, were “growing at different paces” before their split.

“I think a lot of people are probably in these situations. One person’s growing… or one person wants it this way, and one person wants it that way,” Kotb, 60, said in The Jamie Kern Lima Show on Tuesday, August 13, adding that it’s “hard to be in sync.”

While Kotb and Schiffman are no longer together, the Today With Hoda & Jenna cohost still thinks of her ex fondly.

“Joel is one of the best people I know, and he really is a great human being,” Kotb said. “And I feel like I’m a pretty great human being, but sometimes two great human beings together isn’t quite enough to make it work.”

Kotb announced in January 2022 that she and Schiffman called off their engagement after eight years together.

“Joel and I have had a lot of prayerful and really meaningful conversations over the holidays, and we decided that we’re better as friends and parents than we are as an engaged couple,” she said during an episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna at the time. “So we decided that we are going to start this new year and begin it kind of on our new path as loving parents to our adorable, delightful children, and as friends.”

Kotb added at the time that “it’s not like something happened” between her and Schiffman. “They say sometimes relationships are meant to be there for a reason or a season or for a lifetime. And I feel like ours was meant to be there for a season,” she said.

Since their breakup, Kotb and Schiffman have continued to coparent daughters Haley and Hope, whom they adopted in 2017 and 2019, respectively.

“He sees the kids,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in April 2022. “He takes them to school some, and he sees them on weekends. We’ve got a really nice, easy situation.”

Kotb revealed earlier this year that she’s beginning to dip her toe back into the dating pool. “I do have to say something, something did happen the other day that hasn’t happened in two years,” Kotb said during an episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show in March. “I had a date! I had a date.”

In May, Hoda shared that she was going on her third date with a mystery man. “I think it was just the kind of fun of talking about something that wasn’t kids and wasn’t work,” she said during an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show at the time. “It was just life, and I missed that. And he’s really handsome.”