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Are Kathie Lee Gifford and Richard Spitz Still Together? ‘Today’ Alum’s Relationship Status Revealed
When Kathie Lee Gifford announced she was leaving Today, her loyal fans could not wait to see what life had in store for her. The TV presenter ended up meeting Richard Spitz and pursuing a relationship with him.
Kathie Lee Giffford Has Been Married Twice
Kathie Lee was married to her first husband, Paul Johnson, from 1976 to 1983. She opened up about her first marriage in her 2020 book, It’s Never Too Late.
“I was a virgin on my wedding night with Paul, and still considered myself one when he left me five years later,” she reflected. “It’s hard even now to explain why I stayed so long in a sexless marriage. I certainly would never do it again. But back then, divorce had much more of a stigma and no one in my family was divorced. I believed that God could heal our marriage and prayed every day that He would.”
Decades after their divorce was finalized, she bumped into Paul in public.
“He never said a word about why he left me the way he did or why he married me in the first place, and I didn’t ask,” the TV anchor wrote. “I hugged him goodnight and wished him a happy life. I still do.”
Kathie Lee met her second husband, Frank Gifford, while working on Good Morning America.
“I met Frank Gifford because it was 4 o’clock in the morning at Good Morning America, walking down one of the hallways and I looked over at somebody in the dressing room — the best set of buns I’ve ever seen in my life — just leaned over a sink putting in contact lenses,” she said during a November 2020 Today segment.
“I had just had a precursor to Lasik done on my eyes months before and I yelled out, ‘Have I got an operation for you!'” she added. “To which the body that the buns belonged to retorted, ‘Yeah, with the fool on either end.'”
The couple were married from 1986 up until Frank’s death in 2015 at the age of 84. Kathie Lee and her kids, Cody and Cassidy Gifford, revealed that the late NFL star suffered from CTE.
“The NFL gave my father a life, But at the same time, there were dangers,” Cody said in the documentary Requiem for a Running Back. “It’s an intoxicating thing if you grow up loving football your entire life. I lived it and breathed it. It’s hard to walk away.”
How Did Kathie Lee Gifford Meet Richard Spitz?
Kathie Lee left Today in April 2019. She moved to Nashville, Tennessee, full time. The singer later began dating her neighbor Richard.
“She enjoys his companionship,” a friend of the star told Closer in December 2023. “I can see Kathie Lee and Richard tying the knot in the near future.”
Are Kathie Lee Gifford and Richard Spitz Still Together?
Kathie Lee and Richard are no longer together. Sources close to the Hollywood Squares alum revealed they split.
“Kathie Lee was deeply affected by the loss of her second husband, Frank Gifford, and found solace in her relationship with Richard,” an insider told Closer in March 2024. “She was frightened she would never find love again, but she did — briefly.”
“Now, with their relationship over, she’s going through another heartbreak and frightened that at 70, her time has passed,” the source continued.
Kathie Lee has found a great support system in Today costar Hoda Kotb since the breakup.
“Hoda has been calling her every day and planning a visit to Nashville soon,” an insider said. “Kathie Lee is in a difficult place emotionally right now after getting dumped but is receiving love and support from those around her.”
