Hoda Kotb Says Kevin Costner Romance Rumors Feel Like a ‘Coincidence’: ‘He Always Ends Up Where I Am’ (Exclusive)

Hoda Kotb is starting to understand why fans have some questions about her connection to Kevin Costner.

“Isn’t it sort of weird that he always ends up where I am?” Kotb, 60, exclusively told Us Weekly at Runway for Recovery’s inaugural New York City fashion show on Thursday, February 27. “I mean, I’m just living my life, and there he is. It just keeps happening.”

She went on to question, “When is it not a coincidence anymore? That’s what I was wondering.”

The romance rumors began shortly after Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager interviewed the actor, 70, on a June 2024 episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna. Her chemistry with Costner quickly caught fans’ attention, prompting many to suggest the single stars should date.

“How do you feel about viewers shipping you and Kevin Costner after he appeared on Today last month, and have the two of you connected since?” a fan asked Kotb on a July 2024 episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. The question came as a surprise to Kotb at the time, who said she had “never, ever heard” of the rumors.

“Well, if the viewers want it …” she teased while looking into the camera.

Kotb called the fan reaction to her and Costner “unbelievable” on an episode of Hoda & Jenna that same month. Bush Hager, 43, told her then-cohost that “people were coming up to me on the streets” about the two. “I’m telling you, people were like, ‘You should set up Hoda and Kevin Costner.’ And I was like, ‘Wow, I didn’t realize they were flirting behind my back,’” she quipped.

Bush Hager proceeded to play Kotb a montage of her and Costner’s interview moments set to sexy jazz music. Regardless of the romance rumors, Kotb said she appreciated Costner’s down-to-earth nature on the Today set.

“I did love when he had his people, who were here, and they were just talking about him, they were like, ‘He is so funny,’” she shared at the time. “And they were describing, like, he likes to eat baked beans out of the can. Like, he’s just a regular person.”

Last month, Kotb poked fun at the speculation by snapping a photo with Costner while attending Super Bowl LIX. “Oh what funnnnn!!! #superbowl #nolastrong,” she captioned Instagram pics from the big game.

Noticing the Costner photo, Today’s Savannah Guthrie tagged Bush Hager in the post’s comments, writing, “New couple alert cc @jennabhager 🚨.” Bush Hager, for her part, replied, “@savannahguthrie we have been waiting for this moment!”

Kotb was previously married to Burzis Kanga from 2005 to 2008. She moved on with Joel Schiffman shortly after and the two were together for eight years before announcing the end of their engagement in January 2022. (The exes share daughters Haley, 8, and Hope, 5.)

Costner finalized his messy split from Christine Baumgartner in September 2023, four months after she filed for divorce. The exes, who were married for nearly 19 years, share kids Cayden, 17, Hayes, 16, and Grace, 14. Costner also shares his eldest three children — Annie, 40, Lily, 38, and Joe, 37 — with his ex-wife Cindy Silva, as well as his son Liam, 28, with ex Bridget Rooney.

Romance rumors aside, Kotb told Us she was excited to be a part of Thursday’s Runway for Recovery fashion show event, which served as a fundraiser for local women and families impacted by metastatic breast cancer.

“A lot of people who are outside the Today show window for many, many years asked me about one thing and they asked me about breast cancer. … So, you realize how many people have it and they just need to see somebody on the other side,” Kotb, who left her Today hosting gig in January, told Us. “So, when they told me about this event, which has obviously been done in several places, I kind of ran to it because it’s something I care a lot about and I hope that they raise a lot of money.”

With reporting by Christina Garibaldi