TODAY’S Hoda Kotb has broken down in tears while recalling the moment she learned she was adopting her eldest daughter, Haley.

The 58-year-old opened up about the emotional phone call while appearing on the Just B podcast with Bethenny Frankel.

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Hoda Kotb got emotional while recalling the moment she learned she was adopting her daughter HaleyCredit: Today

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Hoda adopted Haley in 2017Credit: Getty
On Thursday’s episode, Hoda detailed her feelings during the adoption process and how she couldn’t hold back her tears upon getting the news.

“I still remember the moment because I filled out all the paperwork, I did the stuff that you do, and then they’re like: ‘OK, maybe a year. Maybe six months. Maybe five years. Good luck. Bye, bye,'” the Today host prefaced.

“And I was sitting in my office…and I remember it like it was just yesterday, I was sitting there…and my phone beeped, and I looked at it, and it was a text, and it said Ashley and Ashley was the lady from my adoption agency…”

Hoda then got choked up as she revealed her thoughts in that instant.

“I saw her name…I took a yellow pad out. I looked at the clock, and I wrote 11.55. This is the moment everything changes. I knew it!”

She then added: “I was weeping, and I thought in that moment, she’s here. I don’t know what birth feels like, and I bet it was amazing, but this was really close. And I remember the feel like it was yesterday…it was amazing. It happened.”

Hoda adopted now-six-year-old Haley in 2017, just months before landing her hosting gig on the morning program.

Two years later, she adopted her now three-year-old daughter, Hope.

At the time, she was engaged to her ex-partner, Joel Schiffman, 65, with whom she’s been co-parenting her children with since their split in January 2022.

WHAT ALMOST WAS

Also, in the episode, Hoda revealed a major career transition she planned to take before she became a mother.

“I always said I wanted to be a teacher, but I think I really wanted to be a teacher because I wanted kids,” the daytime TV star confessed.

“I always said that when I’m done at NBC, I’m going to go be a teacher. And then one day I was like, I think being a teacher is amazing, but I think there was a need to do that because I couldn’t get close enough,” she explained.

Hoda hosts Today alongside Savannah Guthrie, 51, and joins Jenna Bush Hager, 41, for their show during the program’s fourth hour.

PROUD MOM

But it’s the job of a mother that Hoda is most proud of, which she previously gushed about to USA Today.

“She changed my whole life, really. She started it. I feel like my life started again,” Hoda said after adopting Haley.

“I can’t even imagine what it was like before her. I feel like everything began again.

“If I lost everything in my life today…but I had her, I’d be so fine.

“She will be loved unconditionally for her whole life by me.”

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A year after she adopted Haley, Hoda landed her hosting gig on Today alongside Savannah GuthrieCredit: NBC

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She adopted her youngest daughter, Hope, in 2019Credit: Instagram/Hoda Kotb

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Hoda co-parents her children with her ex, Joel Schiffman