Hoda Kotb responds to fans who want her to date Kevin Costner
Hoda Kotb has opened up about her love life.
While the Today show co-host was appearing on the July 9 episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, a fan asked her how she felt about people “shipping” her with Kevin Costner after he appeared on her show alongside Jenna Bush Hager back in June.
Shipping is a slang term that means wanting two people to date or be in a relationship. Upon first hearing the question, Kotb’s response was: “Wait, what?”
“People want the two of you to be together,” Cohen chimed in, explaining the question to her.
Kotb then explained how out-of-the-blue the question seemed to her because she had no idea the two of them had sparked the comments among fans. “I have never, ever heard that. Not one time,” she said.
However, after thinking it over, she jokingly added: “Well, if the viewers want it.”
Another Today show anchor, Samantha Guthrie, joked that both Costner and Kotb should “give the people what they want.”
Kotb was previously engaged to Joel Schiffman in 2019 before the two called it off in 2022. The former couple share two daughters together, Hailey Joy, seven, and Hope Catherine, five.
“We decided that we’re better as friends and parents than we are as an engaged couple,” she told Bush Hager at the time. “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.”
Costner announced his divorce from his second wife, Christine Baumgartner, in May 2023 after being married for 18 years. The divorce details were finalized back in February. The two of them share three children: daughter Hayes, 14, and their two sons 17-year-old Cayden and 15-year-old Hayes.
Prior to Baumgartner, Costner was married to Cindy Silva from 1978 to 1994. They raised their three children, Annie, 40, Lily, 37, and Joe, 36, together.
The actor has also previously been linked to Jewel but has since denied the romance rumors.
The conversation about Costner continued on the July 10 episode of Today With Hoda and Jenna. During the episode, Bush Hager admitted that she’s heard about the rumors, and people have even asked her if she would set up the two.
“I actually did know because people were coming up to me on the street, and people were like: ‘You should set up Hoda and Kevin Costner,’” she said. “I didn’t know they were flirting behind my back.”
The Today team decided to further play along with the joke by showing a video of Kotb and Costner during their interview with romantic music playing in the background as the two of them were hugging.
“Y’all are ridiculous,” Kotb said while laughing. “The slow-mo and the music, really?”
Despite not currently dating the Yellowstone actor, Kotb did admit that she noticed likable qualities about him.
“I did love when he had his people here and they were talking about him and they were like: ‘He is so funny.’ They were describing him like: ‘He likes to eat baked beans out of a can, like, he’s just a regular person,’ that’s what she said,” Kotb said about when he appeared on the show.
“Baked beans out of a can is what turns you on?” Bush Hager had questioned, to which Kotb replied: “I like that he wasn’t fancy. I thought that was really cool.”
