Hoda Kotb isn’t afraid to get real on The Today Show, and has spoken about a number of sensitive and personal topics over the years. And the 59-year-old Today co-host has once again opened up about a very personal subject, as she got candid about her 2007 breast cancer diagnosis and how she dealt with it in the public eye.
During a conversation with Today co-host Jenna Bush Hager, which was prompted by Olivia Munn revealing on social media that she was diagnosed with Luminal B cancer in both breasts after undergoing genetic testing, Hoda reflected on her own breast cancer diagnosis, which led to her having a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.
Hoda Kotb Opens Up About Dealing With Breast Cancer Publicly
While Olivia, 43, did go public with her diagnosis and revealed she had undergone four surgeries in the last 10 months on social media, Hoda confessed that she hadn’t initially planned to go public with her diagnosis, until a chance encounter with a stranger on an airplane encouraged her to do so.
“I think one of the things about being public about something, and many years ago, many, many years ago, when I was diagnosed, I wasn’t going to say anything about it and I wanted to forget about it, but someone encouraged me to say something,” Hoda confessed, in reference to the airplane stranger, before talking about one of the biggest downsides of dealing with such a health battle in public.
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"The downside is people look at you with pity and I have to say, for me personally, that's one of the hardest looks to ever get because someone feeling sorry for you, like, 'oh poor thing'... and they say one of the worst things you can do as a parent is put pity on your kids."
She continued: "But Olivia's point is, 'look I'm here, I'm ready to talk about it,' and it was such a shocking story." Jenna agreed, and added: "When you are going through such scary things, it's hard because you kind of want to keep it private. Everybody has different opinions."
Hoda Kotb Reveals Why She Went Public With Breast Cancer Diagnosis
During an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show in October 2020, Hoda revealed that she made the decision to go public about her breast cancer battle after speaking to a stranger on an airplane.
"When I was working at NBC with breast cancer, I was determined to put that deep in my pockets and not share that because I didn't want to be that person," Hoda confessed at the time, before going on to reference a conversation she had with the stranger when they asked why she was wearing a compression sleeve.
Hoda said she explained that she was battling cancer, and added: "But I said to him, 'I hope that's not how you remember me.' And he said, 'What's wrong with you? Having cancer is part of you. It's like working at NBC or getting married or graduating college. Let me give you some advice and you can go to sleep: don't hog your journey, it's not just for you.'"
"I sat there in that moment with a complete stranger and realized I had just changed the path of my life. He said, 'You can put your stuff deep in your pockets and take it to your grave or you can help someone. Those are your choices, A or B, choose.'" She added: "When he said that I was so struck by the fact that I wanted to hide the bad parts of my life and suddenly I felt lifted and lighter and I mentioned it at work when I had kept it a secret, I said it out loud, and all of a sudden I found it really was helping people. It shaped me. It didn't define me, but you can still help people with that."
