Hoda Kotb is getting candid about her health. The Today host revealed that she is legally blind.
Hoda Kotb Is Legally Blind
During an episode of Today, Jenna Bush Hager asked Hoda if she ever wears glasses.
“Do you wear glasses?” Jenna asked, to which Hoda said, “I’m legally blind — I wear one contact.”
“I know you do,” Jenna said back to her.
Hoda then explained why she only wears one eye contact instead of two.
“You know why I wear one?” the mom of two, who shares kids Haley and Hope with ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman, said. “And it’s brilliant!”
“For anyone who’s got terrible vision … I mean, I’m not your eye doctor, but if you wear one, you can see far and you can read, because this one doesn’t have one in it,” Hoda continued. “So I’ve always worn one.”
Jenna was rather confused by the confession, pointing out, “They make contacts like that!”
Hoda said she chooses not to wear specially made contacts for her condition and prefers her method.
“That makes me dizzy,” she said before pointing to her eyes. “This is so good.”
Jenna then stood up from her chair and playfully put Hoda’s hair in front of her eye. “When your hair goes over your eye, can you read?”
Hoda started to realize the point Jenna was making, putting a hand over here eye as she looked out into the audience. “Do you know that those are your friends over there?” Jenna asked Hoda while pointing to members of the audience.
What Does it Mean to Be Legally Blind?
According to Cleveland Clinic, the term legally blind “defines severe vision loss.”
“Government agencies use it when determining how to apply policies relating to vision loss,” the outlet said. “If your visual acuity is equal to or less than the definition’s thresholds, you qualify as ‘legally blind.’”
The American Optometric Association reported that about “12 million adults 40 years and older in the United States are living with uncorrectable vision loss.” Of that number, more than 1 million Americans are categorized as blind.
Hoda Had an Eye Contact Malfunction on ‘Today’
During a February 2024 episode of of Today, Hoda suffered an issue with her eye contact while filming.
“I think I have a contact stuck in my eye way up here,” she told Jenna during the broadcast. “I don’t think I took it out last night, and I can’t find it. It feels like it’s in there!”
She said she did not have time to go to the doctor and instead asked viewers at home for tips on how to get the contact out of her eye.
“We have breaking news: Hoda has now lost all eyesight because her other contact fell out,” Jenna said at the time. “I’m going to go ahead and read, and hopefully when the health person comes, we can resolve this issue.”
In the end, she was able to get the old contact out and had to wait for someone to come out and bring her another contact. West Side Story Ariana DeBose was waiting in the wings for a segment on Today and ended up bringing Hoda a new contact lens to put in her eye.
