Hoda Kotb, 59, candidly opens up about her breast cancer battle and the ‘downside’ of dealing with it so publicly – as she praises 43-year-old Olivia Munn for speaking out about her own ‘shocking’ diagnosis story

Hoda Kotb has opened up about the “after-effects” of going public with her 2007 breast cancer diagnosis, which led to her having a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.

During a candid conversation with her Today co-host Jenna Bush Hager, 59-year-old Olivia praised Munn for making the “difficult decision” to share her own breast cancer news on social media this week.

When Jenna, 42, agreed that it must have been “hard” for the 43-year-old actress to speak out, Hoda reflected on her own experience with publicly revealing her health issues, admitting that she never had been planning to share the news with the world.

“I think one of the things about being public about something, and many years ago, many, many years ago, when I was diagnosed, I didn’t want to say anything about it and I wanted to forget about it, but someone encouraged me to me to say something,” she explained.

Olivia Munn revealed last year that she was diagnosed with breast cancer and has undergone four operations in the past ten months

Hoda told her Today co-host Jenna Bush Hager that it must have been a “tough decision” for Olivia to go public

‘The only downside, there are so many positives, the downside is that people look at you with pity and I have to say, for me personally, that’s one of the hardest looks you can ever get because someone feels sorry for you, like :’oh poor thing’… and they say one of the worst things you can do as a parent is feel sorry for your children.

“But Olivia’s point is, ‘look, I’m here, I’m ready to talk about it,’ and it was such a shocking story,” Hoda added, referencing Olivia’s emotional Instagram post, in which she revealed she has undergone surgeries four times in the past 10 months.

Jenna agreed with Hoda, adding, “When you go through scary things like that, it’s hard because you kind of want to keep it private. Everyone has different opinions.’

Alongside a series of hospital photos, Olivia told her 2.9 million followers that she was diagnosed with Luminal B cancer in both breasts after undergoing genetic testing.

“She had gotten a mammogram, which was negative, completely negative, and that was because she had genetic testing…” Jenna explained, as Hoda continued, “Yeah, she was totally amazing and said, ‘I’m good for a year”.

“And then her doctor said, ‘We’re going to do something where we’re going to assess your cancer risk. We’re going to ask you about your family history and when you got your first period and when you had your first child,’ you know.” just do the math.

“Eight different little factors, and then they added it all up it turned out she had a 30 percent chance of getting it. She said: “If you had a 37 percent chance of a plane crashing, how would you feel about that? So go get checked.”

“And then she got checked out and ended up developing breast cancer, which was aggressive, but was treated,” Hoda explained.

“It’s such a lesson in advocating for your health and paying attention,” Jenna replied.

Hoda and Jenna realized it would have been “difficult” for Olivia to speak out about her health

Olivia told her fans on Instagram that she had spent ‘so many days in bed I can’t even count’

Olivia praised her midwife for deciding to calculate her breast cancer risk assessment score, adding: ‘The fact she did that saved my life’

Hoda pictured in 2007, the same year she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery

“She did everything she was supposed to do, that’s the weird thing, she went to the doctor…” Hoda added, as Jenna claimed: “She did that, and half the women don’t even do that.”

In October 2020, Hoda revealed that she made the difficult decision to go public while battling breast cancer after a chance meeting with a stranger on a plane.

During an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, Hoda said their brief conversation led the journalist to share her cancer diagnosis with her viewers when she sought treatment in 2007.

“When I was working at NBC with breast cancer, I was determined to keep it deep in my pockets and not share it because I didn’t want to be that person,” Hoda said.

Her thinking changed after a stranger on an airplane inquired about the compression sleeve she was wearing, leading her to explain that she had cancer.

“But I said to him, ‘But I hope that’s not how you remember me.’ And he said, “What’s wrong with you? Having cancer is part of you. It’s like working at NBC, getting married or graduating college. Let me give you some advice and you can go to sleep: Don’t overdo your journey.” heavy, it’s not just for you,” she said.

“I was sitting there in that moment with a complete stranger and realized that I had just changed the trajectory of my life. He said, “You can put your things deep in your pockets and take them to your grave, or you can help someone. Those are your choices, A or B, choose.”

‘When he said that I was so affected by the fact that I wanted to hide the bad parts of my life and I suddenly felt lifted and lighter and I told it at work even though I had kept it a secret, I said it out loud: and suddenly I noticed that it really helped people. It shaped me. It didn’t define me, but you can still help people with it,” Hoda added.