Kathie Lee Gifford admitted city life was crushing her soul and she felt like she was “dying a slow death” before pursuing a quieter, more fulfilling lifestyle in the country after living in bustling metropolitan areas for decades.
The former co-host of “Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee” described reveling in the serene sounds of “church bells” ringing throughout the countryside and her joy in friendly neighborhood comradery, a stark contrast to what she’s seen become of her favorite cities.
“There’s a culture of kindness here in the South. It’s just extraordinary,” she exclusively told Fox News Digital. “And I needed it. I needed it.
“My soul was dying a slow death in the Northeast for the last 20 years or so, watching the culture change as much as it has and not just in New York, but LA, Seattle, beautiful San Francisco, some of these huge, beautiful cities. I don’t even recognize them anymore.”
KATHIE LEE GIFFORD SUPPORTS ‘GREAT FRIEND’ REGIS PHILBIN AMID KELLY RIPA DRAMA
Kathie Lee Gifford reveals her “soul was dying” while living in the city, and she needed to escape to the country.
(Slaven Vlasic)
Gifford became a household name while co-hosting with Philbin on the nationally syndicated show, which first aired in 1988. She left the program in July 2000 and pursued a few passions, including raising children Cody and Cassidy with late husband Frank Gifford.
“I live in the Nashville area. There’s a lot of beautiful suburbs here,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to live in the city. It’s just not my thing.
“I like to go there for whatever reason. I go. But no, I live in the suburbs where church bells ring and people let you be who you are. And they let you worship the way you want to worship and vote the way you want to vote. And they, you know, they just let you be.”
Kathie Lee Gifford (seen in 2017) always boasted about her two children with late husband Frank, son Cody and daughter Cassidy.
(Greg Doherty)
She added, “Certainly don’t want to live there and pay the taxes.”
While Gifford took an eight-year break from live television after working with Regis for 15 years, she returned to the studio in 2008 to work with Hoda Kotb on the fourth hour of “Today.”
In 2019, Gifford earned a Daytime Emmy Award for outstanding informative talk show host the same year she left the network.
When asked if she missed working on daytime television, she earnestly responded, “Not for one second.”
Kathie Lee Gifford and Regis Philbin reunited on the “Today” show in 2012.
(Peter Kramer/NBC)
Kelly Ripa (seen in 2005) recently wrote in her memoir that her working relationship with Regis Philbin wasn’t easy.
(Gregory Pace)
Amid recent criticism of Regis waged by his former co-host, Kelly Ripa, Gifford did say that working with the late broadcasting icon was “one of the greatest experiences of my life.”
She exclusively told Fox News Digital, “I worked with him for 15 years. We never had one unkind word between us.”
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Ripa, a former “All My Children” star, caught backlash when her new memoir revealed her “great privilege” of working with Philbin from 2001-11, also came the great burden of a less than “easy working relationship.”
“I’m not going to comment on Kelly’s story. It’s hers. She can say whatever she wants,” Gifford said. “I’m a big believer in freedom of expression. I don’t believe we’re supposed to cancel anybody. She has the right to tell her story as she remembers it.”
Regis Philbin introduced new co-host Kelly Ripa in July 2001.
(Spencer Platt)
Gifford interviewed every major celebrity, discussed the hottest trends and biggest stories throughout her career in front of the camera. Still, she reflected on her time with Regis, who died in 2020 at the age of 88.
“I saw him two weeks before he died, and his wife told me that that’s the last time she ever heard him laugh, and I treasure that,” Gifford said.
“So that says all you need to know about what I think about what Kelly is saying now.”
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