Ex-‘Today’ Anchor Jenna Wolfe Reveals She Split From Wife in 2021.
Jenna Wolfe is taking things one day at a time.
“For the first time in my life, I don't have answers to big important questions,” the former Today host, 49, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “And I have to be okay with that.”
The past few years have been a roller coaster for her family.
In Sept. 2021, she separated from her partner of 10 years, Stephanie Gosk. The pair married in 2013 and welcomed their first daughter Harper, that same year, and their second, Quinn, in 2015.
But the pandemic put a strain on their relationship. “COVID was really tough, because we both worked from home,” says Wolfe, who was an anchor for Fox Sports at the time. With Gosk covering news for NBC, the two were doing live shots from their apartment in midtown Manhattan.
“There's a lot of beautiful ego that comes with one person being on television,” jokes Wolfe. “But when there's two people on television, plus both kids trying to do Zoom school in a Manhattan apartment, there's just no space anywhere,” she says.
“We decided after that, in order to preserve the relationship, it was better that Steph moved out,” Wolfe says, adding that they are “still great friends, still loving parents” to Harper, now 9, and Quinn, 8.
There was another reason the pandemic was so difficult: Wolfe’s mom was diagnosed with aggressive, Stage 3 breast and lymph node cancer. “She endured chemo, radiation, loss of her hair and fingernails," Wolfe says. "And nobody except my dad could be there with her because everybody was quarantined or isolated."
She remembers a "gut-wrenching" day that her mom and dad stood on the street looking up at Wolfe's bedroom window to get a glimpse of her and the girls.
"My mom is young and strong and beautiful and wonderful, and here was this completely sickly woman. I called my girls over and we were waving. I was sandwiched in between my parents and my kids, separated by this glass. It broke my heart because it was so intense."
Wolfe's mother ended up beating cancer — "knock on wood, she made it out." But when she tested positive for BRCA, the breast cancer gene, she advised her daughter to do the same.
Wolfe turned out to be positive as well.
The personal trainer decided immediately to have a preventive hysterectomy and double mastectomy. (Her mom had both surgeries, too.) “There was no cancer in our family, but we ran all the numbers: I'm in my late forties, and my mom had cancer, and I'm an Ashkenazi Jew. My cancer risk was at 44%. That's almost 1 in 2. I was walking around like thanking my lucky stars that I hadn't gotten cancer yet.”
She scheduled her hysterectomy for eight days later on March 21 — and the mastectomy exactly three weeks after that, on April 11. “There was no hesitation about the surgeries,” she says. “When I get something in my head, it's, let's just do it, let's move forward. And that's how I have lived my life.”
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Jenna Wolfe is taking things one day at a time.
“For the first time in my life, I don't have answers to big important questions,” the former Today host, 49, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “And I have to be okay with that.”
The past few years have been a roller coaster for her family.
In Sept. 2021, she separated from her partner of 10 years, Stephanie Gosk. The pair married in 2013 and welcomed their first daughter Harper, that same year, and their second, Quinn, in 2015.
But the pandemic put a strain on their relationship. “COVID was really tough, because we both worked from home,” says Wolfe, who was an anchor for Fox Sports at the time. With Gosk covering news for NBC, the two were doing live shots from their apartment in midtown Manhattan.
“There's a lot of beautiful ego that comes with one person being on television,” jokes Wolfe. “But when there's two people on television, plus both kids trying to do Zoom school in a Manhattan apartment, there's just no space anywhere,” she says.
“We decided after that, in order to preserve the relationship, it was better that Steph moved out,” Wolfe says, adding that they are “still great friends, still loving parents” to Harper, now 9, and Quinn, 8.
There was another reason the pandemic was so difficult: Wolfe’s mom was diagnosed with aggressive, Stage 3 breast and lymph node cancer. “She endured chemo, radiation, loss of her hair and fingernails," Wolfe says. "And nobody except my dad could be there with her because everybody was quarantined or isolated."
She remembers a "gut-wrenching" day that her mom and dad stood on the street looking up at Wolfe's bedroom window to get a glimpse of her and the girls.
"My mom is young and strong and beautiful and wonderful, and here was this completely sickly woman. I called my girls over and we were waving. I was sandwiched in between my parents and my kids, separated by this glass. It broke my heart because it was so intense."
Wolfe's mother ended up beating cancer — "knock on wood, she made it out." But when she tested positive for BRCA, the breast cancer gene, she advised her daughter to do the same.
Wolfe turned out to be positive as well.
The personal trainer decided immediately to have a preventive hysterectomy and double mastectomy. (Her mom had both surgeries, too.) “There was no cancer in our family, but we ran all the numbers: I'm in my late forties, and my mom had cancer, and I'm an Ashkenazi Jew. My cancer risk was at 44%. That's almost 1 in 2. I was walking around like thanking my lucky stars that I hadn't gotten cancer yet.”
She scheduled her hysterectomy for eight days later on March 21 — and the mastectomy exactly three weeks after that, on April 11. “There was no hesitation about the surgeries,” she says. “When I get something in my head, it's, let's just do it, let's move forward. And that's how I have lived my life.”
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NewsTranscript
00:00 ex, Today, anchor Jenna Wolfe, reveals she split from wife in 2021. Former Today anchor
00:06 and fitness correspondent Jenna Wolfe has revealed that she and her wife Stephanie Gosk,
00:11 with whom she has two young daughters split in September 2021 after eight years of marriage.
00:17 Wolfe told People that she and Gosk are "still great friends" and "still loving parents"
00:22 to Harper, 9, and Quinn, 8, and that COVID had a lot to do with the breakup.
00:28 "When there's two people on television, plus both kids trying to do Zoom school in a Manhattan
00:33 apartment, there's just no space anywhere, we decided after that, in order to preserve
00:38 the relationship, it was better that Steph moved out."
00:42 Complicating matters further during this tumultuous period, Wolfe's mother was diagnosed with
00:47 aggressive stage 3 breast and lymph node cancer. While her mom successfully defeated the disease,
00:54 the 49-year-old Wolfe, who tested positive for BRCA, the breast cancer gene, felt compelled
01:00 to immediately have a preventive hysterectomy and double mastectomy.