Kathie Lee Gifford is leaving the Today show. She broke the news today, December 11, during the broadcast. She and Hoda Kotb had hosted the boozy fourth hour together since 2008. Click through the gallery for all the info.
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Kathie Lee, 65, made her
announcement live on air. She began, “It's bittersweet as these things always are, but I have been here almost 11 years. Thought I would stay one year. Something happened along the way and fell in love with a beautiful Egyptian goddess and when it's our 11th anniversary I will be leaving the
Today show.”
Photo credit: INSTARImages
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But she’s not retiring from the business. “It's an exciting time for me and I'm thrilled about the projects coming up, but it's also hard is because the reason I stayed longer than a year is because I love everybody here,” she said.
Photo credit: MEGA
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“I have been in this business 120 years and never worked with a more beautiful group of people who just give, give, give every day, four hours of live television five days a week,” the seasoned host said of the Today family. She’s worked in television since 1974, when she was 21 years old.
Photo credit: MEGA
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Kathie Lee continued, “We laugh and support one another and know each other's kids names and know when somebody is having a colonoscopy. We do life and nobody more so than my Hoda. It's going to be the same as my Regis [Philbin]. I'm closer to him now than after 15 years together.”
Photo credit: MEGA
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Kathie finished, “You don't share that life together and not be changed forever by it. I love you, Hoda mama.”
Photo credit: INSTARImages
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“The minute you stepped into my life with both feet,” Hoda, 54, said, through tears, “Everything changed.”
Photo credit: MEGA
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NBC News chief
Noah Oppenheim said in an
email to employees that Kathie Lee will be staying through the show’s next anniversary on April 7. She said she has film projects on her plate and she plans to get into directing.
Photo credit: MEGA
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Are you surprised Kathie Lee is leaving? Let us know in the comments!
Photo credit: MEGA
Kathie Lee, 65, made her
announcement live on air. She began, “It's bittersweet as these things always are, but I have been here almost 11 years. Thought I would stay one year. Something happened along the way and fell in love with a beautiful Egyptian goddess and when it's our 11th anniversary I will be leaving the
Today show.”
Photo credit: INSTARImages
But she’s not retiring from the business. “It's an exciting time for me and I'm thrilled about the projects coming up, but it's also hard is because the reason I stayed longer than a year is because I love everybody here,” she said.
“I have been in this business 120 years and never worked with a more beautiful group of people who just give, give, give every day, four hours of live television five days a week,” the seasoned host said of the Today family. She’s worked in television since 1974, when she was 21 years old.
Kathie Lee continued, “We laugh and support one another and know each other's kids names and know when somebody is having a colonoscopy. We do life and nobody more so than my Hoda. It's going to be the same as my Regis [Philbin]. I'm closer to him now than after 15 years together.”
Kathie finished, “You don't share that life together and not be changed forever by it. I love you, Hoda mama.”
Photo credit: INSTARImages
“The minute you stepped into my life with both feet,” Hoda, 54, said, through tears, “Everything changed.”
NBC News chief
Noah Oppenheim said in an
email to employees that Kathie Lee will be staying through the show’s next anniversary on April 7. She said she has film projects on her plate and she plans to get into directing.
Are you surprised Kathie Lee is leaving? Let us know in the comments!
