Kathie Lee Gifford says she is not dating and does not expect to marry again more than a decade after the death of her husband, Frank Gifford.
The 72-year-old television personality told People that Frank, the Pro Football Hall of Famer and broadcaster, remains the love of her life. Frank died on Aug. 9, 2015, at age 84.
“I am not dating anybody right now, and I don’t want to date,” Gifford said. “I’m not looking, and I don’t think I’ll ever get married again.”
Gifford Says She Is Not Looking for Another Marriage
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Gifford said she had one later opportunity for love after Frank’s death, but the relationship did not work out. She told People she is not closing herself off completely if something unexpected happens.
“Frank will always be the love of my life,” she said. “If God wants to do something miraculous, like give me another great love, then I’m open to it. And so I leave room for the miraculous to happen.”
Kathie Lee and Frank met in 1982, when she was hosting Good Morning America. They married in 1986 and welcomed son Cody in 1990 and daughter Cassidy in 1993.
She Also Revisited Frank’s Public Infidelity
Gifford also reflected on the 1997 scandal in which Frank’s infidelity became public. People reported that a tabloid trailed Frank to a hotel room and revealed the affair while Kathie Lee was still co-hosting Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee.
Gifford said she spent a week away from home and work before returning to Frank. “I came home a week after that happened to reconcile with Frank,” she told People.
She said strangers still approach her to talk about that decision. “There’s not a day that goes by that somebody doesn’t come up to me and say, ‘I just want you to know I had separated from my husband, and I went back. We went for counseling. We healed our marriage,’” Gifford said.
Frank’s Death Still Shapes Her Present
Gifford recalled the day Frank died at home. She told People she found him after he had suffered a heart attack, and that she and Cody tried to resuscitate him before emergency responders arrived.
“The EMT guys came, and they said, ‘Mrs. Gifford, we just want you to know your husband, he never suffered. He never saw the ground he fell on,’” she said.
After Frank’s death, his brain was donated for CTE research. People reported that posthumous testing showed he had stage 4 CTE, a progressive degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head trauma.
Her Life Now Is Built Around Family, Work and Faith
Gifford told People she is focused on the present, her work and her family. She is now a grandmother to five children and has been working on a documentary about her life.
She also recently released her book Nero and Paul. People reported that the project is part of her continuing religious nonfiction work.
“I need to find joy in the moment I’m in right now, because none of us know when is our last breath,” Gifford said. “Instead of saying, ‘One day I’m going to take that vacation, one day I’m going to do this…,’ find joy right now.”