Today has been a place for reunions this week! On Monday, we saw the return of Jenna Bush Hager from maternity leave after the birth of her son. On Tuesday, we saw another familiar face back at Today. Kathie Lee Gifford returned to the show for the first time since she left in April to explore other projects.
Kathie Lee returned to her old stomping grounds to dish on her life since moving to Nashville. “Kathie Lee is happier now than I remember her,” Hoda remarked to Jenna. “Than I’ve been in years and years!” Kathie Lee noted.
“You know what it is? There’s a completely different culture down there, and it’s a culture of kindness in Nashville, and they’re authentically kind,” Kathie Lee continued. “There are some mean ones, I guess, but I don’t hang out with them. They’re joyful. They have so much fun, music everywhere — everything’s Americana.”
Kathie has even dipped back into the dating pool. It’s her first time since the passing of her husband, Frank Gifford. “I went out on a couple of dates… [getting caught by paparazzi] was kind of disappointing because I thought, ‘Oh, surely they’re going to leave me alone down here,’” she told Hoda and Jenna.
Kathie Lee and Frank were married for 29 years before his 2015 death. Now, Kathie Lee is ready to give love another go. “I went out with friends to a club to hear my favorite band down there, Tim Akers and the Smoking Section,” she explained. “So, I went to hear them. And this sweet guy asked me to dance, so I said, ‘OK.’ And then he disappeared into the crowd, I said, ‘OK.’ And then a couple of weeks later, same band …so we danced again. And we just went out a couple of times.”
“It’s surreal because the world’s changed so much,” she continued. “But [my date was] a gentleman, so it was fine. But then I got so busy. We’re just from different worlds.”
Source : https://www.littlethings.com/kathie-lee-gifford-today/