Hoda Kotb Shares Rare Update on Kathie Lee Gifford’s Life 5 Years After Leaving ‘Today’

In April 2019, Kathie Lee Gifford marked her final episode of Today after more than a decade of cohosting with pal Hoda Kotb. Nearly five years later, viewers got a rare update on the life of the beloved news anchor since she departed the long-running talk show.

“By the way, Kat’s living her best life, she’s in Nashville, she’s writing music, she is living her best life,” Hoda, 59, told Today viewers on Wednesday, January 10, during a segment discussing Kathie Lee’s new music. “She’s playing with the cutest grandkids, putting out good music, so Kat, love you.”

Kathie Lee, 70, recently welcomed her third grandchild, Ford Matthew Gifford, on November 27, 2023. The little one was born to the broadcaster’s son, Cody Gifford, and his wife, Erika Gifford. The pair are also parents to their eldest child, Frank Michael “Frankie” Gifford, who was born in May 2022.

She is also a grandmother to grandson Finn Thomas Wierda, who was born to her daughter, Cassidy Gifford, and her husband, Ben Wierda, on June 24, 2023. The doting grandmother of three’s Instagram page is full of adorable glimpses of her life with her grandkids, from singing to them or playing with them out in her yard.

While living in Nashville, Kathie Lee has been able to focus on her country music career but still “toys with the idea of moving closer to her grandkids,” an insider told Closer in December 2023. The “Love Me to Death” singer tries to visit her grandkids “as much as possible.”

There have also been some big developments in Kathie Lee’s love life recently, as she may be looking to take the next step in her relationship with boyfriend Richard Spitz.

“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.”

The pair have been dating for over two years. Prior to her relationship with the businessman, Kathie Lee was married to Frank Gifford for 29 years. The NFL player turned broadcaster died on August 9, 2015, at age 84.

“If you’re not careful, what you’ve lost in life can define you,” she reflected on her life as a widow in a March 2019 interview with AARP. “It’s so much healthier to be defined by what you still have. I’m making big changes in my life because I need to, really big changes that are feeding my soul. Otherwise, despair sets in and loneliness can be crippling.”