The Widow Gifford, dying of loneliness, moves to Nashville

Of course she moved to Tennessee. Perfect political atmosphere for her.

To restart her music career?

Odd that Kathie Lee "grew up" wanting to be Meryl Streep since she's only four years older than her.

How could she grow up wanting to be Barbara Mandrell or Meryl Streep when she's 66?

[quote] Here’s the bad news — I’m a widow, an orphan, and an empty nester.

My heart just broke in half!

Her face! She’s got a Frankenstein face, like it was put together from parts from several different donors. She certainly doesn’t look like Kathie Lee Gifford.

I could believe it if she grew up wanting to be Mother Maybelle Carter and Mrs. Fiske.

Kathie Lee must have put Frank's son Kyle (who lived with them) into a home once Frank was dead and buried. Kyle was one of my HS classmates, and he became a paraplegic or quadriplegic in the 70s from a drunk driving accident. Funny how these "devout christian" (Kathie Lee) behave.

^I used to watch Regis and Kathie Lee in the 90s and I never once heard her mention another son. She was always talking about Cody and Cassidy.

Yes, I can picture little Kathie Lee at 25 watching Streep in "The Deer Hunter" and saying, "When I'm a big girl that's what I want to do! Can I Mama? Can I move to Nashville some day and star in a Vietnam War epic??"

Well, to be fair, there's no reason why Kathie Lee should have to live with Kyle if he is an adult stepchild. His father should have prepared for that in his will.

Well, they were HER children, R9, and they were young and cute and easy to exploit. Frank had several other children by his first wife, one was a daughter married to Michael Kennedy and you know how that went. Kathie Lee is all "up" and "giggly," she does not address these unpleasant things.

I was just thinking that if I were in a situation like Kyles and my dad passed, I would not want to live alone with my stepmother who’s only two years older than me. Obviously I can’t speak for this person, but once my dad was gone I would probably want to live somewhere else.

Totally, true, R11. But we're taking about an adult child who had lived with Frank and then Frank and Kathie Lee all of his life. Now he's probably in a nursing home while step mom sews her geriatric oats.

His will provided $1 million for Kyle and $500,000 for the other two older children. Kathie Lee and her children got the rest ($8 million + $25 million in real estate).

R13, Kyle may not be able to speak either. In any case, he was being taken care of at home by hired help, not in a nursing home vegetating. In fact, he probably hardly saw Kathie Lee.

I don't really care about her religious beliefs. I think it's been obvious for years she's not anti LGBT. But has she ever said anything about her political beliefs? I'm interested to know if she's a Trump supporter or not. If she is then she can fucking die in her new Franklin house and rot before her corpse is found.

Put it this way. If she's going to live in Nashville, she'd better get on Trump's side. The whole state of Tennessee is filled with deplorables.

Gifford left a million dollar trust fund for Kyle in his will.

Then he better die soon, R19.

So both Kathie Lee and Regis had disabled children in their families that they hid away.

Of course Kathie Lee is not a Trump supporter. In reality, she is a huge fan of AOC and Illhan Omar. She wanted one of them to run, but is left with Bernie Sanders instead.

R20, that’s what I was thinking. A million would last a year or maybe two, if he requires 24/7 care. Which a quadriplegic probably does...

How does she stay so thin when she drinks so much?

I actually saw her in that Sondheim revue Putting It Together when she was Carol Burnett's standby/understudy and she was pretty damn good. I was very surprised. She did make them change "wait a goddamn minute" in "Could I Leave You?" to "wait a fucking minute" which, if you ask me, makes it even more powerful. "Fuck" seemed more shocking at the time anyway.

She’s good friends with Kris Jenner. That tells you everything.

Also, I always remember how Howard Stern called her “Kathie Lee Jew”.

Yeah well, that happens when you marry a guy old enough to be your father. You spend a big part of your life alone. I bet she secretly regrets staying with him after all his public affairs.

Yeah, R23... and remember Frank wasn't playing with a full deck for a long time. He had CTE brain injury from his football career. That means dementia x10.

[quote] She did make them change "wait a goddamn minute" in "Could I Leave You?" to "wait a fucking minute" which, if you ask me, makes it even more powerful.

I thought this was going to go the other way and she would have sung, "wait a gosh-darn minute!" I am impressed with Kathie Lee.

She knows which side her bread is buttered on. The frau audience for her morning shows can identify with Nashville; they can't identify with Manhattan. They'll buy anything she sells from Nashville.

They'd never believe it if my friends could see me now!

[quote] Put it this way. If she's going to live in Nashville, she'd better get on Trump's side.

She IS on Trump's side. She’s one of those evangelicals who thinks Jesus wants her to be rich. Plus, she’s best friends with Betsy DeVos, Trump's Secretary of "Education".

Anyone who knows her knows how reprehensible her politics are.

Hopefully she's found a drinking partner in Nashville - I suggest DUI offender Sam Hunt

[quote]She’s good friends with Kris Jenner. That tells you everything

Her bff is Armie Hammer's mother, who is an insane uber-Xtian Trump humper. The company she keeps is gross.

To be fair, if she wants to write oratorios and songs about her love of Jesus, she's much better off in the South where she will find other evangelicals.

Kathie Lee in Sophie's Choice: "Oh, kill Kyle."

So I've learned on this thread her best friends are Armie Hammer's mother, Betsy DeVos, and Kris Jenner.

How can she be lonely?

^ but those kind of people will balk when they find out about the "Epstein" name and connection.

What I want to know is what happened with her and "Takl".

Looks they they canned her pretty quickly.

I'm sad to read about Frank's will above. He had $10 million in cash and $25 million in real estate. Over the duration of his marriage with Kathie Lee, I'd assume that she was the main breadwinner. She had steady gigs on morning TV plus side jobs (like the cruise line commercials); he perhaps brought in less money as a sports announcer. BUT...if that $10 million cash was generated by Frank separately from Kathie Lee, then he should have split it five ways among his five kids. I can understand giving Cody/Cassidy's shares ($4 million combined) to Kathie Lee, since she'll probably continue to give them money regularly.

The law says that the surviving current spouse is the next of kin and is entitled to inherit everything if there is no will. Still, I hate to see grown sons/daughters from previous marriages get screwed over. Kathie Lee will probably avoid remarrying--or she'll have one hell of a prenup--so that all her assets go directly to Cody/Cassidy.

The money will be in trusts so no new husband can touch it, don't you know this, R40?

I read a recent KLG interview a few days ago. She used words like "Jesus" and "grace" in every fucking sentence. It sounded like Elisabeth Hasselbeck's appearance on Fox & Friends earlier this year. Some of these people flaunt their Jesus like jewelry.

Why doesn't she bring back Name That Tune?

People split up money in all kinds of ways for their surviving kids to inherit. They sometimes do it based on need, and they sometimes split it up it as a final gesture to tell them all who they loved the most. It's not often fair to outside eyes.

Rich people, I have noticed, are often less fair about dividing their inheritances than middle-class people, because they put such a premium on having money.

My father was middle-class and divided his money four ways evenly among his three biological children and his stepdaughter (who was illegitimate and had no other father, and whose mother is already dead). We all thought this was very fair.

She's still here?

That face looks like it came out of that salon in “Brazil”...

I think the Parthenon's had less reconstructive work done to it over the centuries than her face has had.

Kathie Lee singing with big hair.

R44, your family sounds lovely. No snark.

She’s not LGB-friendly. She only likes gay men who can help her with her hair and makeup and cred. And she finds lesbians disgusting.

Thank you, r49.

It is interesting that her friends are all high-profile women famous for both their greed and their devotion of Bible study!

R50, she sounds like Joan Rivers

Are you daft, R24? Alcoholism keeps you thin.

She moved there to score some anonymous country Christian cock. She certainly didn't relocate there for Tennessee's vineyards or wine. Though I find her entertaining (morbid curiosity), I also find her to be a phoney-baloney.

Never thought she was big into the LGBT community either.

There was one TV Guide interview she gave where she was pissed about not having a bigger say in the guests booked on Regis and Kathie Lee. She wanted William Bennett of The Book of Virtues on but Gelman said no! "And who'd he put on instead? Boy George!" was her reply.

And the stories about how Frank treated his first family were well known to Howard Stern listeners. Not surprised by the company she keeps. Not.surprised.

She's super sensitive and thin-skinned and HATES it when people make fun of her. And yet she's in show biz.

And we all know that Shaq will need a break here and there . . .

God, Nashville is really booking, big time. Not my cup of tea but I hear about it in some fashion almost weekly.

[quote] How can she be lonely?

The bitch ain't gettin' no dick! She needs penetration. Her coochiepop is begging for company.

I think her most frightening performance was a song she wrote and performed on the Today show about finding her husband, Frank, on the floor dead one morning.

From Closerweekly.com

[quote] Kathie Lee stayed strong as she sung the vivid details about how the day started normally with coffee and makeup before she found her beloved husband on the floor.

[quote] “And though I miss his kisses, I can’t fill that empty space, it helps when I remember that sweet look on his face when he saw Jesus.”

[quote]And though I miss his kisses, I can’t fill that empty space,

Frank couldn't fill her empty space because he was fucking so many younger women. I'm sure she is used to, and fine, with no cock, after decades of practice during her sacred Christian union. "That adultery commandment is intended for sinners, not good church-goers like us. At least he isn't sticking that thing in me any more. And besides, I love the Greenwich and Key Largo mansions more than him. Praise the Lord and the goodness He has richly bestowed on me!"

R61, we had a thread about that song here. In the first verse, where she talks about putting on her make-up, she says that she was singing a gospel song. Of course.

Remember when the affair scandal blew up? A tabloid paid a woman to invite him to her hotel room. The room was rigged with cameras that recorded them doing the deed. People thought it was too low for even a tabloid to go.

Not long after that, it was discovered that the people who manufactured her clothing line overseas were working in deplorable conditions. Didn't she and Frank fly to the factory and bet photographed passing out hundred dollar bills to the workers?

R59 Me too... many Chicagoans I know are moving there for retirement. No southern roots, and not necessarily country music fans either. I do know several blues and jazz musicians who love the culture there, as well as the music scene. It's very affordable, and does indeed offer retirees a comfortable standard of living.

It’s becoming considerably less affordable. The fun neighborhoods once filled with struggling musicians are all being gentrified. Even the Starbucks seem to have valet parking now. The TV show was the beginning of the end.

It’s also disgustingly anti-union and homophobic.

Her best friend is Anita Bryant. Really. And she's defended her a lot.

Kathie Lee said how much she loves waking up to church bells every morning.

She has plenty of money, so I don't weep for her. Joan Rivers said she & Frank came to look at her Manhattan apartment priced at $24 million or some ridiculous figure. In my area, she did a singing commercial for some handyman service. She sang something like, "You can glue it, you can screw it." I was laughing so hard every time that was on, I was crying. It didn't last long.

She's an Oral Roberts Univ. graduate. That tells you everything you need to know about the idiot.

I wonder what the other students there thought about a girl named Kathryn Epstein going to a Christian school.

I didn't know that, R8. I'll bet you're right. That's pretty ugly, considering she could afford help. I'll bet she and Marsha Blackburn become bffs if they aren't already.

R68 That would most likely be the TACKL app commercial. It played relentlessly on cable networks awhile back. Her voice was terrible, and she had a glass of wine in hand, very cheesy! I was embarrassed for her. It was not unlike watching a bad musical TBH.

[quote]It's very affordable, and does indeed offer retirees a comfortable standard of living.

Nashville now has some of the highest rents and rent increases in the country. As r66 says, it’s really not affordable anymore.

R71, thanks, that's it. You're correct. There was a new version, then gone completely. Very embarrassing.

It's a good thing her Jesus can turn water into wine.

R72 It's still cheaper than Chicago, on average if one is coming from a preferred location. All these people I know shall be selling properties between 500K to over 1M. They didn't all pay so much to acquire them, they simply bought at the right time, and need or want to "cash out".

They certainly shall benefit from the move, based on taxes and assessments alone. Everything is relative. I moved from London to NYC, benefiting in a huge way, and again, had huge gains in appreciation; moving to Chicago enabled me to retire at fifty. Unloading property and moving somewhere else always has benefits if done wisely.

Tammy Faye Bakker had more talent than her.

Nashville looks like a New York suburb (though not as pricey), no "country culture" shit. My brother lives there. And whenever I'm in a restaurant in Nashville, they're playing Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong on the PA, not Patsy Cline and Johnny Cash. Hmmm.

Something Kathie Lee that the "Divas Datalounge Doesn't Like" thread reminded me of. Disliked diva Lena Horne was on Regis and Kathie Lee around 1994. Kathie tried desperately to get Lena to get all gooey and sentimental over her long dead husband. That would not be Lena's style anyway, but over that marriage, she wouldn't fake it. Kathie was crushed. LH was probably still pissed because Regis didn't know her 1981 Broadway show The Lady & Her Music. That was the show's lame research dept's fault. but still!

Where are her kids? Are they in NYC? Even though they're adults, It's weird that she moved so far away from them. They have to be spawning soon and granny Gifford will want to be all up in that.

She can "like" and share the pictures of her future grandchildren on FB from a safe distance, and not have to deal with their germs and diaper smells.

So, Kathie darling, how is Frank doing these days?

How many best friends does this bitch have?

I don't begrudge her the opportunity to celebrate her love and life with Frank in song, but when she comes up with that horror in r61, somebody needed to stop her. "No, Kathy Lee, you can't sing that song about finding your husband's corpse on the floor with his eyes rolled back in his head, 'seeing Jesus.' You need to rewrite the whole thing before you can perform it; people are eating breakfast during your show."

The fact that they did let her perform it goes a long way in explaining why they also let Matt Lauer run through the halls sexually accosting women.

[quote]I think the Parthenon's had less reconstructive work done to it over the centuries than her face has had.

Coincidentally, there's a Parthenon in Nashville, too!

[quote] And though I miss his kisses, I can’t fill that empty space, it helps when I remember that sweet look on his face when he saw Jesus

MARY!

[quote] Disliked diva Lena Horne

She's a lesbian, you know.

Albuquerque at the Parthenon in Nashville

What has she done to her face? I would never have identified her in that photo.....thanks to OP for providing her name.

so the asshole left his disabled son $1m which might pay for 3 years of 24/7 care and at which point he goes on medicaid is some cheap ass nursing home and the c u next thurs gets $30+m?

Kathie Lee is the most deplorably awful songwriter in the entire world. The end.

R85, Kathie Lee was giving Lena a chance to redeem herself in public. Didn't work.

Kathie Lee, hon!

DLers don't care where you go, just go the fuck away!

Mow or blow it....

R85, I've heard that, but don't know if it's true. Allegedly, she invited 2 female fans backstage after a show and embraced one of them with her robe open and nude underneath. Not that I would mind, but she struck more as bi.

I know kris jenner and kathy have been friends for decades. I believe, according to kris jenner since the late 70s. But kris and kathy are both completely different people. Kris is much more hip and runs with a more urban crowd of people, largely due to her children and their circle of friends.

But kris has been seen going to hip hop clubs with rappers, with her children along with her. She also dresses younger too. And is friends with people you'd never see someone like kathy mixing with.

All of that being said, kris and kathy are just a weird combination of people to be friends with. There lives are so completely different. It's like they both live in to completely different worlds.

Am I the only one who feels this way?

R93, she took the female fan to London with her when the show played there for a few weeks - all documented.

Johnny Carson's second wife - cheated on him with Frank Gifford. I think he caught them in his NY apartment.

[quote]Am I the only one who feels this way?

You're probably the only one who gives a shit.

Actually she has a good voice- wonder why she never did the stage? She is an odd duck. Cannot imagine going from NYC (does she still have a home on Nantucket) to Nashville-

Kathie Lee IS a deplorable on so many different levels.. ....beginning with that hideous face full of fillers...she is almost unrecognizable and fugley

"Doctor, I'm tired of looking human... now that Frank is dead and the kids are gone, I want to look at porcine as possible! Make me look like I escaped from the Island of Dr. Moreau!"

Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not former morning television hostesses?

Not to suck up Drink; that is the Law. Are we not former morning television hostesses?

Not to eat Fish or Flesh; that is the Law. Are we not former morning television hostesses?

Not to claw the Bark of Trees; that is the Law. Are we not former morning television hostesses?

Not to chase other former morning television hostesses; that is the Law. Are we not former morning television hostesses?

Mariah Carey’s triplet

Adrienne Maloof completes the trip

She grew up wanting to be Anita Bryant. But now she Aneedsa big black Dildo!

I wonder what she thinks of Anita and her husband screwing over the employees of their tacky dinner theaters in Branson, the Ozarks, and the Smokies.

I would not be at all surprised if she had a big black lover.

R106, maybe Kris Jenner hooked her up...

i hope any bbc that's doing her is being paid well, otherwise.......

Does she ever comment about her first (gay) husband?

You won't catch Kathie Lee in church on Sunday, though. She said she doesn't want religion in her life at all - only Jesus. She's also become very Israel-obsessed recently, writing books about the country.

I wonder why she didn't move to Eilat, rather than Nashville?

"I wonder what she thinks of Anita and her husband screwing over the employees"

I WONDER what she thinks of Anita's husband screwing around on ANITA.

Does anybody remember the song she wrote for Today documenting a boy with autism who nobody at school wanted to befriend? She brought the boy on the show and had her opera singer 'friend' sing TO HIS FACE what a loser he was and that he had no friends. The boy burst into tears.

Howard Stern made fun of that for years.

An Evening with Kathie Lee Gifford

What: Kathie Lee Gifford will tell stories about her career as part of a fundraiser gala for the Nashville Pops Orchestra's student scholarship program, a gala where the orchestra will present its first ever Lifetime Achievement Award to Gifford

When: 6:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum, 401 Gay St.

Cost: $350 per person, $495 per couple

OMG that mermaid hair has got to go. She’s an old fucking lady, cut it short already.

Wow, we really have a new generation of DL. And none of them get the Lena Horne lesbian joke/history.

[quote] OMG that mermaid hair has got to go

The perfect description for the ubiquitous long hair hairstyle.

I went to one of her CD signings. She gave out licorice. She was nice.

She is unfailingly nice, until the subject of politics comes up. Usually around her second or third bottle of wine.

Probably killing her she's still not a Grandmother.

Remember the Christmas specials she did? They were so weird, made up of scripted scenes without a plot. One scene would have someone reading to a group of children and asking them questions about the true meaning of Christmas. One kid would answer a question wrong, and then Cody would give the correct answer. Of course.

There's a youtube clip of Howard Stern tearing apart one of these specials. The best critic, though, was Tom Shales of the Washington Post. His fans looked forward to his commentary on the Kathie Lee specials.

It’s a shame more women don’t consider suicide.

R121, Cody just got engaged, so grandmahood is near.

I'll bet there are more than a few people out there who named their kids Cody and Cassidy.

R125, And also named their dogs Chardonnay and Chablis.

Kris Jenner and her can hang out and get drunk and talk prosperity gospel. Two peas in a pod.

Shame Frank screwed over his first set of kids.

Kris Jenner and her can hang out and get drunk and talk prosperity gospel. Two peas in a pod.

Shame Frank screwed over his first set of kids.

R128 - maybe he screwed over his first set of kids to get back at his cunt of a first wife.

R129 = hasn't read this thread

Kyle Gifford should have been euthanized like a dog with cancer, years ago.

Maybe Kathy was the one w the money. Working as a broadcaster does not pay that much

This thread has provided me with several belly laughs which were desperately needed. Thank you, bitches.

When she comes to Wash DC, she stays at Trump Hotel.

Her estate in Greenwich, CT is massive. It must cost a fortune just to maintain it.

R135 Well, I can see why she's lonely there. It's the size of a small college campus.

[quote]Maybe Kathy was the one w the money. Working as a broadcaster does not pay that much

Umm ... she was a broadcaster, too.

But Kathy did endorsements , clothing line, and Live With surely paid more than football announcer.

TV is big $$$. She's definitely minted from her decades long career on television. Even Andy Cohen mentioned how wealthy she is once, when she and hoda were on WWHL. But she didn't want to talk about money though.

I guess when you have it, you don't want to talk about it. Gotta be nice to be that rich.

"Hair" is either chock-full of extensions or a wig. She looks like Ramona Singer. Eyebrows look tattooed on, like Joan Crawford. Her nose looks smashed at the bridge. Her outfits (low-rise jeans, etc.) look frozen in time from 2001 or so.

She's still a good-looking woman and could look so much better.

IMO, everybody thinks they can make it as a country singer. Maybe it's true? What do I know.

Country music fans are more receptive to older performers. They certainly respect their older legends, but I don't think they'll take too warmly to older newbies. (See Bret Michaels...)

R141 She seems country and more "home-spun" to me than either NYC or Greenwich material. I remember reading somewhere she either sold in CT, or listed it.

Kathie Lee and Regis were earning good coin after the show went nationally syndicated.

Frank was not making that much with Monday Night Football, plus they dumped his ass years before he died.

Yes. Kathy was the breadwinner!

All that surgery and she looks like a female Howdy Doody.

Cody and his fiancée.

I don't understand her friendship with kris jenner. They are polar opposites of each other.

Cody's fiance kinda look like a young version of his mother kathy.

Kinda.

r147 delusional old women grasping at youth? yes nothing in common.

R147, they’re both greedy right-wing cuntbags who relentlessly promote their wretched and undeserving offspring.

Just like Dr. Phil’s wife.

Why did Koda H like working w Kathy? Are they friends off camera

R151, the thing about KL is that she is probably fun when she’s not cunting. I’m always surprised at how charming Kris Jenner is, any time I see her speaking (which is rarely, so). I think Hoda is probably just a good complement to KL, and they seemed to have good chemistry. Those two zany broads. And maybe, like Jenner and Meghan Markle, they are very nice to people who benefit them.

Hoda threw Kathie Lee some shade on Andy Cohen's WWHL the other night. When asked what she REALLY thought of those hokey songs KLG wrote for those silly people in crisis segments on TODAY, Hoda grimaced and finally said "They made her happy".

How come this thread always shows there's a new post and I find nothing after R153?

So I'll add - Hoda and Kathie Lee were "show business friends." That means they said less than four words to each other before and after the show.

Kris jenner has an interesting mix of friends. Kathy Hilton, kathy Lee Gifford, faye resnick, kyle Richards, etc etc.

I wonder if kathy lee, knew Nichole brown simpson? And if they all ever had girls night out together.

Kathie Lee is godmother to the two younger Jenner daughters.

[quote] How come this thread always shows there's a new post and I find nothing after [R153]?

Have you blocked any poster(s) on this thread? That might be the reason. If you clear your blocked posters, I think it will clear up the problem.

R155, she’s also friends with Joe Francis (of “Girls Gone Wild” fame).

Joe Francis was the one who orchestrated Kim K's sex tape release for Kris.

R159, Didn't Joe Francis date Melissa Rivers?

I was in the checkout line at Vons last night and her winsome face greeted me on not one, but TWO publications!

Lol, R161. Your mag had Vivian Vance on the cover!

That's actually why I took the photo, r162. Kathie Lee was just icing on the cake.