Kathie Lee Gifford on Whether or Not She Would Host a Show Again

Fans of Kathie Lee Gifford miss seeing her on their TV screens each morning. The broadcaster walked away from Today in April 2019, but speculation has grown on whether or not she would be interested in returning to daytime television.

“I would not have lasted one day in today’s world on my show with Regis [Philbin] or my show with Hoda [Kotb] in this world where you got to watch what you say,” she told Us Weekly in an interview published on Wednesday, March 20. “I’ve made a living not watching what I say.”

For now, it looks like Kathie Lee, 70, has no plans to jump back into the TV hosting scene. Instead, she’s got a bunch of new projects in the works, including acting in the TV series The Baxters along with her daughter, Cassidy Gifford.

“[I wanted] to be a part of something that would give people hope and that would show the real side of a Christian family and what they go through,” Cassidy, 30, shared during the joint interview about the show. “I think so often it’s so cookie-cutter and so clichéd when it’s depicted in the media, and you understand why some people don’t even want to go near it. They think it’s just so saccharine and they’re going to feel like they’re judged.”

On top of showing off her acting chops, Kathie Lee is also a talented singer-songwriter who has plenty of interests to keep her busy outside of the TV world.

“Maybe it is someone else’s dream job,” she told AARP of her broadcasting career in April 2019. “But there was a more powerful dream within me that had yet to be fulfilled. All I ever wanted to do, from the time I was a little girl, was sing and be in movies.”

The Nashville-based Live alum is a doting grandmother of three grandsons and travels “as much as possible” to see her grandkids.

“Kathie Lee is very spiritual, so she sees her grandchildren as God’s gifts,” an insider told Closer in December 2023 of the singer’s bond with her family. “She says being a grandma is a true blessing. She calls them her little angels. She loves holding them, smelling them, reading to them and while she doesn’t want to rush it, she can’t wait to sit down with her grandkids and have conversations with them about life.”