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-PICTURED: Hoda Kotb, Kathie Lee Gifford

She’s Back!

Kathie Lee Gifford Returns To The ‘Today’ Show 7 Months After Departure

The host exited in April to pursue other projects.

-PICTURED: Hoda Kotb, Kathie Lee Gifford

Credit: INSTARImages

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Kathie Lee Gifford returned to the Today show on November 12, seven months after she gave up her cohosting job. She joined Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager, who finished her maternity leave on November 11.

Kathie, 66, said she’s happier now than she’s “been in years.” She was on Today for 11 years.

To open the segment, she joked around with a security guard. “Remember me?” she asked as the guard confiscated her wine. “It’s Kathie!”

She came out with a wine glass and greeted Hoda, 55, with a big hug. “I didn’t realize it’s been seven months since I was here,” she confessed.

Kathie talked about moving to Nashville, saying, “It’s a culture of kindness… they’re authentically kind… it’s joyful.”

“I wake up and there are church bells around me! And birds! And when a siren comes by, rarely, it’s not because someone was murdered,” she joked.