Today host Hoda Kotb reflected on her experience with breast cancer amid the recent news of Olivia Munn‘s diagnosis. Speaking to her co-host Jenna Bush Hager, Kotb opened up about the “downside” of going public with a cancer battle, as Munn did yesterday.

Munn shared on Instagram that she had undergone a double mastectomy after doctors found Luminal B cancer — “an aggressive, fast moving cancer” — in both breasts. Kotb told Today that she was reluctant to share her own diagnosis when she learned she had breast cancer in 2007.

“Many years ago, many, many years ago, when I was diagnosed, I wasn’t going to say anything about it but someone encouraged me to say something,” Kotb, who underwent a mastectomy to fight the disease, recalled. “But the one downside — there’s so many upsides — but the one downside is people look at you with pity.”

She continued, “And I have to say, for me personally, that’s one of the hardest looks to ever get. Because someone feeling sorry for you like, ‘Oh, poor thing.’ And they say one of the worst things you can do as a parent is put pity on your kids, there’s something about that feeling.”

Bush Hager agreed, adding, “It makes them feel worse.”

Kotb also noted that it must have been a “difficult decision to talk about it at all” for Munn.

“When you’re going through such scary things it’s hard because you kind of want to keep it private,” Bush Hager added.

In her emotional social media post, Munn detailed her journey to getting diagnosed, explaining that her OBGYN calculated her Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Score, which found that she had a lifetime risk of 37%. She then had a biopsy done after undergoing an MRI and an ultrasound, after which they the cancer in her breasts.

“I’ve kept the diagnosis and the worry and the recovery and the pain medicine and the paper gowns private,” Munn wrote. “I needed to catch my breath and get through some of the hardest parts before sharing.”

Kotb noted that a 37% chance like Munn’s was relatively high, comparing it to the “chance of a plane falling down.”

The Today hosts praised the actress and her “shocking story,” with Bush Hager saying, “It’s such a lesson in advocating for your health.”

Today with Jenna and Hoda airs on weekdays at 10/9c on NBC.