Haley Joy!

Hoda Kotb’s New Baby — The Inside Story

How the 'Today' host made her move with her longtime boyfriend!

By J.R. Taylor

Feb 21, 2017 @ 9:59AM

Hoda Kotb’s New Baby — The Inside Story

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Hoda Kotb is a new mother at 52 — and called in to "Today" to announce that she'd adopted baby daughter Haley Joy Kotb. The big news included a photo of Hoda with her new child, while co-host Kathie Lee Gifford boasted: "Do you now how hard it has been to keep this secret? I got the biggest mouth in the world!" Hoda also announced that her mom Sameha was in town to see her new granddaughter. But insiders suspected something was up when Hoda suddenly moved in with her longtime boyfriend Joel Schiffman — although she didn't originally tell Sameha about that!

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“I was afraid to tell my own mother I was moving in with my boyfriend,” Hoda laughed. “It’s like we’re kids!” Sameha still found out soon enough when The National ENQUIRER reported in Oct. 2016 that Hoda and her financier partner had started looking for a new apartment with enough space for a family.

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Hoda almost missed her chance to meet Joel at a Wall Street event, where he asked her to autograph his copy of her book. She called that magic moment “a life-transforming meeting for me!” This isn't his first time being a parent, though. Joel has a daughter from his first marriage, with Kyle Schiffman being very approving of her dad's "awesome" girlfriend.

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“It’s so long since I’ve lived with someone,” Hoda confessed in Oct. “I am a little concerned — with me, not him. Like, how I am as a human. It’s not going to be easy for poor Joel.” At the time, pals told The ENQUIRER that their biggest concern was Hoda being a "hoarder at home" — but now she's revealed the real reason for that extra living space!