Hoda Kotb made a splash after posting a photo on Instagram with Kevin Costner at the 2025 Super Bowl, and she “got a real kick out of the rumors that she was possibly dating” him, an insider exclusively tells Closer.

“It made her smile because he’s always been one of her top Hollywood crushes,” the source adds. “In a perfect world, yes, she and Kevin fall madly in love and live happily ever after. Now it’s become this running gag, especially from her former colleagues at Today.”

Hoda, 60, interviewed Kevin, 70, on Today in June 2024, and viewers were buzzing about the pair’s onscreen chemistry. However, she wasn’t made aware that fans were rooting for a spark to ignite between them until an appearance with Savannah Guthrie on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in July 2024.

“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 virtually asked Hoda during the Watch What Happens Live appearance.

“Wait, what?” she responded.
“The viewers want the two of you together,” host Andy Cohen clarified.

“I have never heard that, not one time,” Hoda said.

Savannah, 53, asked, “Well, you heard it now, you up to it?”

“Well, if the viewers want it,” Hoda said, as Savannah encouraged her to “give the people what they want.”

After the segment aired on TV, Kevin ended up addressing all of the chatter surrounding him and Hoda.

“I’m not on a national dating service. I appreciate the good will,” the Yellowstone alum said during an October 2024 interview with Entertainment Tonight. “She’s been great to me. When I go back there … people treat me well. They treat me good. And she’s got a spark and we’ve never had coffee together.”

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Hoda left Today on January 10, but she’s been busy planning her next projects and venturing into the wellness space as well as spending more of her free time with her friends and family. Fans were thrilled by her appearance at the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 9, which she attended with some of her pals.

In her recent Super Bowl photo with Kevin, Hoda put her arm around the Oscar winner while they both smiled. Savannah commented “New couple alert” underneath the post and tagged Today cohost Jenna Bush Hager.

Savannah’s comment was made all in good fun, as the source maintains that Hoda is “not really dating anyone” at the moment; however, “she’s open to finding love again” in this new phase of her life post-Today.

“Her daughters, Haley and Hope, are her priority,” the source explains. “She and Kevin like each other and have openly flirted during interviews, but that’s all there is.”

Hoda was with ex Joel Schiffman from 2013 to 2022. The former couple got engaged in 2019 and postponed their wedding multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The mom of two announced her breakup from the financier on Today, saying that they were “better as friends and parents.”

Kevin, for his part, finalized his divorce from Christine Baumgartner in February 2024, two decades after they tied the knot.

While they are not currently dating each other, the source says Hoda and Kevin are “both happy and having fun living their best lives” after their respective breakups from their previous partners.