Everything We Know About Hoda Kotb's Split From Joel Schiffman

Hoda Kotb stunned the masses on January 31 when she announced that she and her fiancé, Joel Schiffman, had pulled the plug on their relationship. "Joel and I have had a lot of prayerful and meaningful conversations over the holidays and we decided that we're better as friends and parents than we are as an engaged couple, so we decided we are going to start this new year on our new path as loving parents to our adorably delightful children and as friends," Kotb revealed on the "Today" show. "It's not like something happened. They say sometimes relationships are meant to be there for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. This was for a season," she said.

As always, her trusted "Today" co-anchor Jenna Bush Hager was right by her side as she delivered the painful news. "This is weird and awkward," she confessed to Hager. "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," she admitted.

Fortunately, the split appears entirely amicable. "He's a great guy. He's a very kind and loving person and I feel privileged to have spent 8 years with him. We are both good and we are both going on our way and our path. We'll be good parents to those two lovely kids," she declared.

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