Getty Images
Kathie Lee Gifford Has a Pretty Good Reason Why She’ll Never Tell Her Kids She’s “Proud” of Them
Don’t call her a “proud” mama! Now that her children are older, Kathie Lee Gifford is getting real about motherhood and she’s looking back at some of the best moments and some moments that were not-so-great. The Today show co-host candidly revealed that she never once told her kids that she was proud of them.
“We don’t say ‘proud’ in our family — we never have,” Kathie told People. She explained that as soon as her 27-year-old son Cody Gifford went away to college at the University of Southern California film school, he earned straight A’s on his first report card. Her daughter, 24-year-old Cassidy Gifford, was still living at home at the time and she asked her mom if she felt proud of Cody — but Kathie had a very good explanation for why she didn’t.
Kathie Lee Gifford with her late husband Frank Gifford and their two children.
MORE: Hoda Kotb on New Life With Baby Haley — “Motherhood Is the Best Job I’ve Ever Had”
“I remember saying, ‘Cass, pride comes before the fall. A good book says that,’” Kathie recalled, quoting a bible verse. Cassidy told her mom that they need to come up with a better word for “proud” that also includes their faith in the definition.
“So I thought about it and said, ‘Okay, Cass, let’s make groud,'” the 63-year-old continued. She explained that the word “groud” meant “grateful to God for every good thing that’s happening in your life, but totally aware that you could screw it up at any moment because you’re just human.”
Kathie Lee Gifford and her daughter Cassidy Gifford.
But being a mom-of-two — she shares both of her children with her late husband Frank Gifford —wasn’t always easy and she even admitted that she did get some things “wrong.” Kathie said she regrets not leading by example when it came to teaching her daughter about confidence, body image, and self-love.
“I would stand in front of a mirror and say negative things about myself and my daughter would hear it,” Kathie explained. “She was the one who ultimately said to me, ‘Mom, please don’t say that. Please don’t say that mommy — it’s not true.’ And it affected her — she’s fine, but she didn’t like it. And I thought I was being honest, but I don’t think it was helpful to her.”
