Kathie Lee Gifford’s faith has helped her overcome life’s challenges, big and small.
She’s currently coming back from hip replacement surgery, which has been “very difficult” even for someone who has “been in good shape her whole life,” she tells Yahoo Entertainment as she sits down for our chat. virtual chat with a bag of ice and his dog, Bambino. Her recovery coincides with the release of her landmark non-fiction book Herod and Mary: The True Story of the Tyrant King and the Mother of the Resurrected Savior, that has already come out.
The book “was my son’s idea,” she said, referring to Cody Gifford, who she jokes is “always looking for things to keep me out of trouble and make money.” But make no mistake, it is her own passion project, born of her lifelong quest to understand biblical teachings.
“On one of my trips to Israel… I learned a lot about Herod,” she said. “This man didn’t just kill you in a gentle way. He even tortured his wives. … I came back to the burning house to make a movie or write a book about it.”
The book juxtaposes “the evil” of the Judean king with “the purity of Mary, carrying the savior of the world,” Jesus, says Gifford. She partnered with Bryan M. Litfin, an author and professor of religious studies, for the book, which is the first in a series of three (called Ancient Evil, Living Hope) exploring betrayal, miracles, and ultimate hope.
During her long career in entertainment – including as the Emmy-winning co-host of Today with Kathie Lee and Hoda It is Live with Regis and Kathie Lee – Gifford said she shared her Christian faith with “millions of people.” She said it’s her calling.
“A friend of mine was telling me the other day, ‘I hate being famous,’” Gifford recalled. “I said, ‘There are a lot of things about being famous that I don’t like at all, but God wanted me to be famous because he gave me a mouth for it and a lack of fear about what someone would say or think and a boldness. ‘
“If there was an opportunity I had at any time on any of these networks, I shared the hope of the Lord with people — and our ratings went through the roof,” she continued. “So all the lawsuits, all the networks said, ‘Well, maybe, maybe she’s on to something — this faith thing. We don’t want that, but obviously people love it. Let’s give the people what they want.’”
Asked if she was ever advised to talk less about her faith during her career, she said: “No, they knew I had given up. …I am my faith.’ When I arrived in Hollywood, I had already believed in Jesus for 10 years… I knew I had to do it. I was called to this industry.”
Gifford said that because of her openness, she often had guests appear on her talk shows backstage to talk privately about faith and personal struggles.
“They always asked me to pray with them,” she said. “People were secretive about it. Nobody wanted anyone to know that they were interested in spiritual things. But everyone is hungry. And I see people becoming more and more afraid. They ask, ‘Kathie, do you think there’s more evil in the world right now? I say, ‘No, there’s a lot of cable news.'”
One celebrity who surprised her by being a comfort to her in times of need was Kevin Costner. In 1996, Gifford was accused of using child labor to produce her clothing line, an accusation she says was “completely fabricated” and made for “one of the worst experiences of my life.”
“I got a call: ‘Kathie, Kevin Costner is on the line for you,’” she recalled. “I said, ‘What?’ I never met him, I don’t think so. He tells me, ‘I just want you to know that I don’t believe a word [of this]. No one believes in these things’… and ‘Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world’, which is in the scriptures. I said, ‘Did you grow up in church?’ He said, ‘Well, yes, I learned it. I don’t always follow that,’” she laughed. “We became friends after that and I would always get a call whenever something hit the fan.”
For a time, their families vacationed together and Costner played golf with her late husband, Frank Gifford. They have lost touch over the years, but their gratitude remains.
“I tried to be that kind of person for other people too,” she said. “You try to forget the harm that was done to you, but you try to never forget when someone reached out and showed you kindness that wasn’t necessary.”
Gifford said the sweatshop scandal was part of the worst two years of his life. During this time, she also discovered that Frank had been unfaithful in his marriage. She famously forgave him with the caveat that they would have to work on their relationship.
“I forgave Frank like this,” she said, snapping her fingers. “But he thought it was easy for me and that life would go back to the way it was. I said, ‘No, no, no. We have work to do.’”
She still remembers what her marriage counselor told her as she struggled to get over it.
“He said, ‘Kathie, if you can’t forgive your husband, forgive the father of your children,’” she recalled. “I said: This guy I love. This guy I can [forgive]. So I set my eyes on my children instead of my broken heart. People said he humiliated you. No, he didn’t. He humbled himself. He crushed me, but he didn’t humiliate me.”
Gifford’s faith and openness about life’s pitfalls endeared her to fans and she is “so grateful that people still care” about her. After all, “I also had the opposite,” she said. “There was a time when it was just, ‘We hate Kathie Lee.’ They thought I was an imposter. And, you know, that’s the one thing I’m not.”
