Kathie Lee Gifford says Hoda Kotb was a shoulder to lean on after the death of her husband, football great and sportscaster Frank Gifford.
Frank died at the age of 84 on Aug. 9, 2015, which happens to be Hoda’s birthday. Kathie Lee and Hoda reflected on that day on the Jan. 21 episode of Hoda’s “Making Space” podcast.
“I wanted you to know before you got off a plane from New Orleans and saw on social media or something,” Kathie Lee said.
“And I said, I don’t even want to tell her because she’s going to come here. She’s going to say, ‘I’ve gotta go be with her. I’ve gotta go hug her. I won’t stay long.’ I could just hear your process. You pulled a Hoda that day, too.”
Hoda has vivid memories of that phone call to this day.
Kathie Lee Gifford, Frank Gifford and Hoda Kotb in 2010.Ben Hider / Getty Images
“I remember, because I was on the plane and I was like, ‘Oh, Kath’s calling,’” she said. “And I was just landing, or just about to, and you said, ‘Frank went to the Lord.’ And I literally was, I don’t know. I was so shocked because I’d just seen you guys together, and I remember you said, ‘And don’t come here. I’m good, I’m fine.’”
Hoda said Kathie Lee reminded her it was her birthday, but she was determined to be by her friend’s side.
“You said, ‘It’s your birthday,’” she recalled. “And I remember going to the airport, whoever I was with, nobody knows. Anyway, I said to whoever that person was, ‘Um, you go home, I’m going to go see Kath. And I remember walking into your backyard and I saw the back of you and I just was standing there … and you turned around and you go, ‘I’m glad you came.’”
For Kathie Lee, it’s a moment that has stayed with her all these years later.
“There (are) certain things that are just seared into your soul, and that was one of them,” she said. “You never forget that day.”
Frank was survived by Kathie Lee and their two kids, Cody and Cassidy, who have gone on to give him and Kathie Lee five grandchildren. Cody and his wife, Erika, are the parents of three children, while Cassidy and her husband, Ben, have two kids.
Hoda had previously talked about being there for Kathie Lee after Frank died.
“She asked for people not to come to her house,” Hoda said on TODAY the day after his death. “So I left the airport and drove to her house.”
“When I got there she looked at me and she said, ‘I’m so glad you never listen to me.’ You know how she talks about her faith and I know she lives her faith and I believed it, but I’ve got to tell you I didn’t believe it more than I did yesterday when I saw her after that. Frank had passed away hours before and she said she was rejoicing in his life. When she said it, you felt it.”