Jenna Bush Hagger praised her Toshei colleague Hoda Cott for the way she handled the public announcement of her breakup with her fiancé Joel Schiffman, saying she was doing everything with “grace and compassion”.
The 40-year-old woman was with Cott when she announced on the January morning show that she and Schiffman had separated after eight years together, saying they were “better as friends and parents” for their adopted daughters Hailey Joy. at five and Nadezhda Katherine, two.
“I’m proud of the Walk every day,” said Bush Hager Fun tonight. “She is full of compassion and grace. I watch her come to her office every morning and smile at every single person.
Jenna Bush Hager, 40, praised her co-host Hoda Cott for handling the public announcement of her breakup with her fiancé Joel Schiffman, saying he was “proud” of her.
Cottb and Schiffman, 63, had been together for eight years and had adopted two daughters together
“So it’s no surprise [how she handled the breakup]She added. She does everything in her life with grace and compassion.
Cott, 57, has revealed that their relationship is over after Bush Hager said she did not wear her engagement ring to the show.
“Joel and I had a lot of prayers and meaningful conversations over the holidays and we decided we were better as friends and parents than as a engaged couple,” she said.
“So we decided to start this new year on our new path as loving parents to our wonderful children and as friends.”
Cott insisted that there was no bad blood after the separation between them.
Cottb announces his broken engagement to Schiffman on the show Today, January 31, at the beginning of the fourth hour
Bush Hager, who was with Cott when she shared the news with viewers, told Entertainment Tonight that she “does everything in her life with grace and compassion.”
“It’s not like something happened,” she added. “They say that sometimes relationships are meant to exist for a reason, a season or a lifetime, it was for one season.”
Cott admitted that she felt “weird and uncomfortable” talking about it in public, but she wanted to focus on the “happy moments” they had together.
The journalist announced the separation after her presenter Bush Hagger indicated that she was not wearing her engagement ring
“Many women know how it feels to change the course of life. I feel like I’m really breathing at the moment, which is a weird feeling. “Sometimes you have to tell the truth in your life,” she said.
Bush Hager is no stranger to being in the public eye, and when it comes to sharing their lives with her viewers, she told ET it was “part of the territory.”
The former first daughter began leading the fourth hour of the show with Kotb in 2019, after longtime host Katie Lee Gifford retired.
Bush Hager continued to shout about Cott, saying that she “treated me with such love and was a mentor, and now a really dear friend.”
“I think we are all so happy to have each other,” she added. “People say the Today show is family and looks like a cliché … but it’s true. My gait is like a sister, a wonderful, wonderful presence in my life … That is the truth.
Bush Hager and Cott are doing their show on the road and heading to New Orleans next week, which they are both looking forward to.
Early in her career, Cott worked as a presenter and reporter for the CBS branch of WWL in New Orleans from 1992 to 1998 and was a longtime fan of the Saints.
“My gait is like a sister, a wonderful, wonderful presence in my life … That’s the truth,” Bush Hager said.
Colleagues (pictured in New Orleans in 2018) head to Big Easy next week to film the life of the show, and Buch Hager said Cott was “so excited.”
“She’s so excited,” Bush Hager told her co-host. “She gets what she loves, which is New Orleans. I’m going to the New Orleans Book Festival for the thing I love, books. We can do what we love together, namely eat and drink.
Cottb and Schiffman met in 2013 to sign books, which he attended as a fan, and immediately agreed. They then reconnected through someone in charge of the event, and eventually began dating. They went public with their relationship in 2015.
In February 2017, they adopted a baby girl, Hailey Joy, after the journalist spent years thinking that parenthood was not on her cards.
Cott, who was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 42, came out of treatment unable to conceive. He was initially anxious to raise the issue of adoption with Schiffman, but decided to have an emotional conversation.
“I remember when I went to talk to Joel about it, my heart was pounding. I think I was afraid of the answer, to be honest. But I knew I had to say something, I had to ask, “she told DailyMail.com exclusively in 2018.
Cottb and Schiffman first met in 2013 to sign books and publicly announced their relationship in 2015.
Together they adopted daughters Hailey Joy at the age of five and Hope Catherine at the age of two
When I went to talk to him, he could say there was something, and I think he was just thinking, “What’s going on?”
When Cott told him she wanted to continue the adoption with him, she made it clear that he should feel free to spend as much time as he needed to consider the possibility.
“Take a day, a month, a year, whatever you need to think about, and you can just let me know when you’re ready,” she said, recounting the conversation. “And he just looked at me and said, ‘I don’t need a day.’
Cott was struck by Schiffman’s immediate commitment.
“I could have died,” she said. “I cried so hard I soaked his T-shirt. It was amazing. And they have an amazing connection.
Schiffman proposed to Cott in November 2019 during a romantic getaway in Mexico. They had to postpone their weddings twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Cott said she and Schiffman were “better as friends and parents than as a engaged couple.”
Two years later, they adopted their second baby girl, Hope Catherine.
“We like the idea of Haley [having] brother or sister because she had such interesting circumstances to grow up. So it would be nice to be able to share it with someone, “she said Fun tonight for their decision to have a second child.
Chronology of the relationship between Hoda and Joel
- 2013: The couple met for the first time in the summer of 2013 to sign books. Joel was a fan, but they got along right away. They then reconnected through someone in charge of the event and eventually began dating.
- 2015: The couple did not go public with their relationship until two years later, in 2015.
- 2016: Hoda and Joel took a big step when they moved together in October 2016, buying a luxury apartment in New York
- 2017: In February 2017, they adopted their first child, a girl named Hailey Joy
- 2019: Two years later, they adopted another girl named Hope Catherine. The couple also got engaged the same year, with Joel raising the issue in November 2019 during a romantic getaway in Mexico.
- 2020: The couple had to say “I have to” at a beach ceremony in Mexico in August 2020, but like many people this year, they had to postpone their wedding due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They then moved the wedding to November 2020 – marking one year of their engagement – but that too had to be postponed. In 2020, Hoda revealed her and Joel’s desire to adopt a third child together in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com
- 2021: However, in July 2021 – nine months after she confirmed that the couple was in the process of trying to bring another baby into their family – she revealed that it took much longer than she expected. She then claimed it was postponed because of the pandemic
- 2022: Just weeks after the couple called New Year’s Eve together, Hoda announced they were ending their engagement and splitting up
Schiffman, a financier, proposed to Cott in November 2019 while enjoying a romantic getaway in Mexico, but had to cancel his wedding twice due to the pandemic.
The couple had to say yes at a beach ceremony in Mexico in August 2020, but like many people this year, they had to postpone their wedding because of COVID-19.
They then moved the wedding to November 2020 – marking the one-year anniversary of their engagement – but that too had to be postponed.
That same year, Cott revealed her and Schiffman’s desire to adopt a third child together in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com.
“Sometimes I really think that saying something out loud makes it weird,” she said of her desire to increase her family. “You know, it’s almost like if you have a secret desire or a dream, you can even just whisper it. And if you do, there’s a chance you’ll just validate it.
‘And, [then] again, you don’t want to say something out loud because what if it doesn’t happen. We do not know what will happen.
“I mean, we hope, we pray, we want it and we feel we have enough love and space. You know, our family is getting better for now.
However, in July 2021 – nine months later – she revealed that the process is taking much longer than she expected. Then she said it was because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Do you know what’s funny about the adoption stuff that’s happening now?” It’s obviously really slow during this time, during COVID, “she said during her participation in Watch What Happens Live. I thought it would be a different game.
Cott continued to explain that she and Schiffman had been told by their adoption agency that the pandemic had caused many people who would normally want to give up their babies instead of “holding” them.
“They said that people who might normally feel like something they would like to do – have a child and then give it to someone to raise because they can’t – hold on to things because they don’t nothing. this moment, “she said.” I heard from our agency that everything is slow. ”
Cott insisted then that they did not give up hope of expanding their child, but waited for the right moment.
“They say, wait wisely and just be. So we will just be, “she explained.
Cott shared the news of his breakup with Schiffman just weeks after spending the holidays with his daughters Hailey and Hope; her mother, Sameha; and her sister Hala.