Selena Gomez‘s desire to become a mother despite her fertility struggles is something Hoda Kotb closely related to.

“I think it was something that she always dreamed would happen. You know how you write a story in your head? (Like,) ‘I’m going to get married somewhere, here or there, or at this age, and then I’m going to have kids,’ and you can imagine it. And I think that was probably the hardest part, is being able to see it,” Kotb, 60, said on the Tuesday, September 10, episode of Today with Hoda & Jenna while responding to Gomez’s revelation that she can’t carry her own children.

“But because she’s so mature and just cool, she said there are other ways — she had something she had to grieve for a while — but then she realized there are other ways to start a family,” Kotb said. “And she says she’s planning on either going with surrogacy or adoption.”

Kotb adopted her daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, in 2017 and 2019 respectively, with her ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman. Kotb noted that “families come in so many different shapes and sizes” and stated that one’s children are “one hundred thousand percent your children” regardless of how they were welcomed.

Related: Hoda Kotb’s Family Album with Daughters and Lovers: Photos

Hoda Kotb has often swooned over how much her loved ones have defined her life — particularly her daughters, Haley and Hope. The Today host became a mother when she adopted her little ones in 2017 and 2019, respectively, with her then-partner, Joel Schiffman. The former couple got engaged in 2019 after six years of dating (…)

The Today personality opened up about her own fertility struggles on the August 12 episode of her podcast “Making Space,” revealing that she found out she couldn’t have children as a result of her battle with breast cancer in 2007.

“I remember even the doctor at the time said to me, you know, one of the side effects, especially at your age, I was 40, early 40s, is you can’t have children anymore. And I was like, ‘Wait, what?'” she said. “So this thing not only limited my life, it killed a dream.”

Similarly, Gomez confirmed that she also cannot bear children due to health reasons in her Vanity Fair cover story published on Monday, September 9. “I have a lot of medical issues that would put my life and the baby’s life at risk,” she shared. “That was something I had to grieve for a while.”

The Only murders in the building Star was diagnosed with lupus in 2013 and bipolar disorder in 2018. She also underwent a kidney transplant in 2017.

Related: Everything Selena Gomez Has Said About Having Kids and Becoming a Mom

Selena Gomez isn’t letting her mental health issues derail her plans to become a mother in the future, but they have certainly changed her mindset. “That’s a very big, huge, current thing in my life,” Gomez told Rolling Stone in November 2022 when discussing her bipolar disorder diagnosis. “But I’m meant to have them, I (…)

Gomez told the outlet that she is now “in a much better place” with the news. “I think it’s a blessing that there are amazing people out there who are willing to do surrogacy or adoption, which are both huge opportunities for me,” she said. “It made me really grateful for the other outlets for people who are dying to be mothers. I’m one of those people. I’m excited about what that journey will look like, but it’s going to look a little different. At the end of the day, I don’t care. It’s going to be mine. It’s going to be my baby.”

Earlier this year, Gomez said TIME that she planned to adopt a child by the time she was 35 if she didn’t find the right partner. However, she confirmed in December 2023 that she and music producer Benny Blanco had been in a secret relationship for six months.

Gomez continued Vanity Fair that her family isn’t pressuring her and Blanco, 36, to take the next steps in their relationship. “We always make sure to protect what we have, but there are no rules,” she explained. “I want him to always be himself. I always want to be myself.”