Kathie Lee Gifford has been a constant fixture in countless Americans’ lives for decades, delving into everything from music and comedy to acting, writing, and, of course, the world of daytime television, where she’d become an iconic morning talk show host. She spent 15 years co-helming Live With Regis and Kathie Lee before taking the reins with Hoda Kotb on the fourth hour of Today from 2008-2019.
Her bubbly personality and sharp wit have captured hearts, but the 70-year-old has also faced her share of trials and tribulations over the years. In an exclusive interview with Nice News, the Emmy winner opened up about how spreading positivity and helping people have been the guiding forces of her career, and how her belief system has been key to her resilience.
“Everybody has challenging times in their lives. And, often, the older you get, the more challenging they become. The difference for me was mine were not private difficulties,” Gifford said, adding: “If you’ve ever watched me throughout my life, I’ve had hard times. I’ve cried on camera. I’ve been angry. I’m human. But for the most part, even through the most difficult things I’ve ever gone through in my entire life, I’ve dealt with [them] because I’ve said, ‘No. I am a child of God.’”
Her strong faith is a topic Gifford returns to often, crediting it with helping her find forgiveness and strength during difficult moments, including her late husband Frank Gifford’s infidelity and being accused in the 1990s of using exploitative labor practices for her Walmart clothing line — an issue she addressed and then became an activist for moving forward.
Frank’s affair made headlines in 1997, a season of life that hit Gifford particularly hard. “He just about destroyed me,” she said. “It’s because I loved him so much.” The couple worked through the trying time, however, marking their 29-year anniversary before he died in 2015. After his passing, the entertainer found herself overcome with loneliness and grief. Eventually, she made her way out of the depths of her pain by learning to embrace the many gifts she still had.
The mother of two and grandmother has also had to navigate the tricky terrain of determining who does and doesn’t have her best interests at heart, a natural trapping of fame and something that’s helped her form more meaningful relationships.
“The truth is, I have far less friends today than I used to. Far less. I know a lot more people, but they aren’t my friends,” she explained. “You find out in life who is your friend and who isn’t. It can be painful, but it’s good. Plants don’t thrive unless they’re pruned. There are maybe 10 people in my entire life who I trust. But I trust them with my life.”
She added: “Humor has been my biggest friend, dearest friend my whole life.”
Indeed, making people laugh, and generally feel good, seems to be at the forefront of all her endeavors — from opening for comedian Bob Hope in the early days of her career to donating her time and money to charitable organizations like International Justice Mission and the Association to Benefit Children.
Gifford and her two kids, Cody (left) and Cassidy
It’s a value she can trace back to childhood. “My parents didn’t tell me to go out and become successful,” Gifford emphasized. “They said, ‘No, you’re on this planet for a purpose, and your purpose is to love other people.’”
Speaking to Gifford, it’s clear that her parents played an enormous role in shaping the person she is today. Not only did she apparently inherit the performing bug from both of them — her father was a naval officer and jazz saxophonist and her mother a radio singer, per Biography.com — but they encouraged and supported her throughout her career.
“I wanted to do what my daddy said: ‘Find something you love to do and find a way to make a living at it. And I was doing it. My daddy and my mom were at every single one of those shows,” she shared of her gigs opening for comedians in the ’70s. “They would come every time I was in Vegas, I was in Tahoe, I was in New York — my mom and dad were sitting there, and, you know, just to make them happy, made me happy.”
She cited perseverance and a positive attitude as other crucial elements that led to her achievements. “I was never the prettiest girl at the cattle call. I was never the greatest actress. I was never the best singer. I was never the best anything,” Gifford shared, adding: “But I showed up at absolutely every audition with the best attitude of anybody else in that room. And then, if I got the job, I worked harder than anybody else and treated people kinder than everybody else.”
“And I’m not saying, ‘Yay me!’,” she continued. “I’m saying that was the recipe for how to have a 60-year career: Be the kindest, be the sweetest, be the funniest. My daddy used to say to me, ‘Honey, just be the best they’ve ever had.’ What he meant by that was to never let people forget you.”
And throughout that 60-year career, Gifford’s definition of a life well lived hasn’t changed; it’s only been confirmed. In addition to showing love to others, she said, “Success is at the end of the day, ‘Was I kind today?’ ‘Did I help somebody in need?’ ‘Did I share my bounty with somebody else?’ ‘Did I give somebody hope?’
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