Hoda Kotb has opened up about her battle with breast cancer nearly 20 years after diagnosis.
Speaking with People Magazine, the former Today host shared that although the experience changed her but never defined her.
She said at the Runway for Recovery event, “I mean, there are people who are going to get breast cancer. I didn’t think I was one.”
“I mean, I ate apples and ran in Central Park. I was like me? When they called me, they were like, ‘Oh, it’s you.’ I go, ‘It can’t be me. Why would it be me?’ I’ve never done any of the things that would lead to this diagnosis, but yet it came,” Kotb added.
Kotb shared the most important thing to do when you receive a cancer diagnosis is to “take a deep breath and slow down.”
She said, “When it comes to breast cancer, it’s sort of like, get it early, get it out, and try not to be defined by it.”
“It can shape you, but if it defines you, then you will spend your life feeling a certain way. So it’s like understanding this is part of me, but not all of me. It’s going to change me and I’ll be different now,” Kotb added. “But what you’ll find is you’re braver, you’re more resilient.”
The journalist went on to add, “When I had breast cancer, I remember thinking to myself, will I ever feel pretty in an outfit? Will I ever feel comfortable? How will I look?’”
“I’m watching what’s happening here today and it’s extraordinary. It’s important,” Hoda Kotb stated.