Hoda Kotb and Joel Schiffman had already been together for six years when he popped the question while on vacation. She said “yes,” and they got engaged in November, 2019. Due to the pandemic, they postponed their wedding, and now, the wedding is not going to happen at all.

On “TODAY with Hoda & Jenna,” Kotb addressed the elephant in the room. She said some people have noticed that she hasn’t been wearing her engagement ring, and she decided to explain why. Kotb said, “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.”

The couple shares two adopted children, Haley who is almost 5, and Hope who is two. Kotb and Schiffman plan to co-parent their daughters and remain friends.

Kotb shared that we often choose to only talk about and share the good parts of life, but she thinks it’s important to share the messy and imperfect parts too. She explained, “You want to erase them, you don’t want to share them because that’s not part of a pretty picture.”

After explaining why she and Schiffman decided to end their engagement, Kotb said she felt relieved. She explained, “I feel better that I said it. I feel better. There’s nothing that relieves your soul more I think than when you tell the truth.”

Watch the video below to hear Kotb explain why she and Schiffman have ended their engagement.

Are you surprised that Kotb’s engagement is over even though nothing “happened” to cause it to end? Do you think they will be able to successfully co-parent their adopted children as friends?