Kathryn Lee Gifford (née Epstein; born August 16, 1953)[1] is an American television presenter, singer, songwriter, actress, and author.

Kathie Lee married Paul Johnson, a composer, arranger, producer and publisher of Christian music, in 1976, and they divorced in 1982.

After high school graduation in 1971, Gifford attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, studying drama and music.

Her first regular appearances on national TV were as a singer on the game show Name That Tune, hosted by Tom Kennedy in the late 1970s, in which she would sing small portions of songs that contestants would have to identify.

On June 24, 1985, Gifford replaced Ann Abernathy as co-host of The Morning Show on WABC-TV with Regis Philbin.

Throughout the 1990s, morning-TV viewers watched her descriptions of life at home with her sportscaster husband Frank, son Cody, and daughter Cassidy.

[7] Gifford wound up winning the poll,[8][9] receiving more than four times as many votes as the runners-up, Jaclyn Smith and Nicollette Sheridan.

[7] Philbin and Gifford were jointly nominated eight years in a row (1993 to 2000) for Outstanding Talk Show Host during the Daytime Emmy Awards.

She explained that filling in for Carol Burnett on Broadway and guest-hosting Late Show with David Letterman had inspired her to pursue more challenging work.

[13] As of 2014, the fourth hour of Today with Gifford and Kotb averaged 2.15 million total viewers, an increase of 13 percent over the 2008 ratings.

Her final Today Show appearance was on April 5, 2019, with a party, including a video by her children Cody and Cassidy Gifford.

Gifford has made guest appearances in films and television series, and has several independently released albums on CD, including 2000's The Heart of a Woman, featuring the single "Love Never Fails".

In September 2005 she became a special correspondent on The Insider, a syndicated entertainment magazine television show, ending her relationship with that program upon her co-hosting role with Today.

[20] On an episode that aired March 27, 2010, she guest starred on The Suite Life on Deck, along with her real-life daughter, Cassidy.

Gifford intends to make movies about the experiences of losing a loved one and being a widow, which she considers an underrepresented topic in Hollywood.

[28] On April 16, 2007, Gifford was a guest presenter at the Washington, D.C. Helen Hayes Award Ceremony, honoring contributions and professional accomplishments in theatre.

[29] In 2008, Gifford and David Friedman wrote a junior high school musical entitled Key Pin It Real.

She regularly makes appearances at fund raisers and events for the child abuse prevention and treatment organization and is an ardent supporter.

[33] Frank and Kathie Lee Gifford raised the money to build and continued to financially support two shelters in New York City for babies born with HIV, or a congenital crack cocaine addiction.

[35] Kernaghan reported that a worker in Honduras smuggled a piece of clothing out of the factory, which had a Kathie Lee label on it.

She appeared with President Bill Clinton at the White House in support of the government's initiatives to counter international sweatshop abuses.

[42][43] In 2017, Kathie Lee Gifford released the song "He Saw Jesus", co-written with songwriter Brett James, which she dedicated to her late husband.