Hoda Kotb Gushes About Her ‘Really Handsome’ New Man Ahead of Going on a 3rd Date With Him

Hoda Kotb couldn’t be more excited about her love life after going on two dates with her mysterious new man.

“I hadn’t been on a date in two years, because that’s when our relationship, my past relationship [with ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman] had ended,” Kotb, 59, said of her recent romantic outings on the Friday, May 10, episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, revealing that she and her new love interest are set to go on a third date together.

She continued: “I think it was just the kind of fun of talking about something that wasn’t kids and wasn’t work. It was just life, and I missed that. And he’s really handsome.”

Kotb was previously married to Burzis Kanga from 2005 to 2008. She moved on with Schiffman, 66, in 2013. The pair adopted two kids together — daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, 4 — before announcing their split in January 2022 after eight years.

Today’s Hoda Kotb and Joel Schiffman’s Relationship Timeline

Without mentioning Schiffman by name, Kotb went on to tell Drew Barrymore and cohost Ross Mathews that she felt like a “pleaser” in her most recent relationship.

“If he was happy, then I would be happy. I want[ed] him to be [happy]. … I wasn’t myself,” she explained. “And now, I’ve gotten to a point where if the date’s not for me, and it’s OK, I’ll say, ‘Oh, my God. This was so much fun. You’re a really nice guy.’ Like, I don’t mind being myself and being confident and knowing what I want. I’m not twisting myself in a pretzel to make everybody feel good all the time because I’ve done that for most of my life, and it was exhausting.”

When it comes to finding a new romantic partner, Kotb said she has a “lot of buckets that I want someone to fill, like an emotional bucket is fun, a spiritual bucket.” She added: “There’s so many buckets in life, and I think sometimes if you think about your person, I think I realize in my life that there’s more that I want.”

One quality the Today host said she is looking for in a man is “someone who has been in some kind of stable relationships and knows what it’s like to love someone as much as we love our kids.” Seeing how a person talks about their ex is something else Kotb said is “really important” to her.

Everything Hoda Kotb Has Said About Dating, Relationships and Breakups Through the Years

Kotb revealed during a March appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show that she had recently gone on her first date in two years. That same month, her Today With Hoda & Jenna cohost, Jenna Bush Hager, revealed that she was the mastermind behind Kotb’s new connection.

“Here’s what you do. You don’t just go, 'cause here’s what happens: you end up asking the same people, like, ‘Hey, Henry [Bush Hager]! Who’s at your work that would be good for Hoda?’” Jenna, 42, said of her matchmaking strategy on the show’s March 22 episode. “’Hey … ba ba ba …’ Same. Same people. You stop that. You go outside your zone.”

It was also in March that Kotb made a rare comment about Schiffman while chatting about her past relationships on Today. “I’ve only been with people who are super polite,” she explained on March 21. “Like, when I get up from the table, for instance, Joel got up every time, every time, even if it’s [a] normal dinner.”