Always in Her Heart! Kathie Lee Gifford and Late Husband Frank’s Decades-Long Marriage Timeline

Kathie Lee Gifford‘s marriage to her second husband, Frank Gifford, was one for the books. Although the former Today star and the late TV sports commentator’s decades-long love story was one with ups and downs, there’s no doubt their union was filled with everlasting love.

Kathie Lee and Frank first began dating in the mid-1980s when they met on the set of a morning news show and immediately hit it off. The Kathie Lee and Hoda alum even once told former cohost Hoda Kotb she “sort of” fell in love with Frank during one of their first moments together.

The happy couple were married by October 1986, and it wasn’t long before they became the loving parents to son Cody Gifford and daughter Cassidy Gifford. While the Monday Night Football host was 23 years his wife’s senior, their age gap proved to be no issue as the couple shared nearly 30 memorable years together before Frank’s heartbreaking death in August 2015.

Following the former football star’s passing, Kathie Lee focused on her career and raising her two adult kids. In 2019, the former Good Morning America host opened up about how she battles the “crippling” loneliness after losing her husband just months before their 29th wedding anniversary.

“You battle a lot of things when you get older, especially as a widow, when you lose a spouse,” Kathie Lee told AARP The Magazine. “If you’re not careful, what you’ve lost in life can define you. 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.”

Now that she’s given her heart a few years to heal, the Gift That I Can Give author revealed she’s “open” to finding love. “I don’t think you go out and find love … I think that it finds you,” she told Us Weekly in 2019. “I’m a woman of faith, so I also think that if God wants it, then he’ll bring it. Maybe I have [found love] already and just don’t know it. We’ll see.”

Considering Kathie Lee is a strong woman, it’s no surprise she’s opening herself up to the opportunity to fall in love again. “I’m not [just] coping, I’m thriving,” she once told Closer Weekly.

Scroll through the gallery below to see a timeline of Kathie Lee and Frank’s loving relationship.