Hoda Kotb Splits from Fiancé Joel Schiffman After 8 Years Together: 'Better as Friends'

The two, who got engaged in 2019 and share daughters Hope, 2, and Haley, 4, have called off their engagement and are going their separate ways after eight years together.

"I wanted to address something I think a few of you maybe noticed, but people have written in and asked why I wasn't wearing my engagement ring," Kotb began at the top of the hour. "And Joel and I have had a lot of prayerful and really 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 that we are going to start this new year and begin it kind of on our new path as loving parents to our adorable, delightful children, and as friends," she added, keeping her cool the entire time.

"It's not like something happened. They say sometimes relationships are meant to be there for a reason, for a season or a lifetime and I feel like ours was meant to be there for a season," she continued. "This is weird and awkward. I really was struggling with this. What do I say? How do I say it? But I feel like often we share the joyous pieces of our life ... the engagement, the fun, I shared the adoption of my children, the joy and all the beautiful parts and then the difficult parts sometimes, you just want to forget about, you want to erase them, you don't want to share them, because that's not part of a pretty picture."

"I think a lot of women know what this feels like in this moment, to be changing course in life and I feel really brave in this moment, I really do," she added. "Which is sort of a strange feeling to feel."

After making the announcement, Kotb let out a sigh of relief and exclaimed, "I feel better that I said it." She then went on to praise Schiffman, calling him "a great guy, a very kind and loving person" and someone she's "had the privilege to have spent eight years with."