Hoda Kotb Opens Up About Being Mom-Shamed for “Having Kids at That Age”

When you’re a mom, you literally second guess everything—from what your kids eat to potty training and everything in between. It can be hard to know what—if anything—you’re doing right…especially when mom-shamers lurk wherever you go.

It even happens to celebrities. Hoda Kotb, the main co-anchor of the NBC News morning show Today, recently just opened up about a time she was mom-shamed, and how much it stung.

At 56 years old, Hoda and her fiancé Joel Schiffman have two daughters: Haley Joy, age 3, and Hope Catherine, age 1. And a hater who sent Hoda a letter in the mail was not okay with her having kids so late in life.

“I got a physical letter in the mail, a letter that came to my address, from a woman who wrote, ‘Who do you think you are having kids at that age?’” Hoda said. “I literally read it and I thought, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe someone put a stamp on it and sent it.’”

 

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I believe in miracles. My first one happened 3 years ago. My only request… is for you Father Time … pls slow down ❤️

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Apparently, people think that celebrities don’t know feelings, but these words stung just as much for Hoda as they would any other parent.

“I literally tore it up. I felt horrible in that moment because there is something that bothers you inside about that. But then I thought, ‘Who would take a piece of paper and a pen and write like that and fold it and put it in the envelope with a stamp and go to the trouble of mailing it?’ It took effort,” Hoda said.

We’d imagine it was sent from someone who isn’t happen in her own life and only felt good tearing up others!

The other Today co-host, Jenna Bush Hager, backed Hoda up with her own story about a time she was mom-shamed, too—at a time she had to go on a plane away from her family, when her youngest child was just four months old. Of course she missed her children, but work was calling. And yet, a rude follower decided to share some choice words with her.

“I was on the plane coming home, and I felt so inspired and I just ached with the thought of missing my children,” Jenna said. “One person in particular wrote some really mean thing on Instagram, like, ‘How dare you leave your children, your new baby?’ And, ‘Why would you ever do that? You’d think he matters, too.’” To hear more on their mom-shaming discussion, check out the video below.

Have you ever been mom-shamed before?