USA TODAY International Edition
Gifford’s passion project full of romance
Her legion of fans have always loved how Kathie Lee Gifford can speak about everything and anything. But there’s one topic on which the former “Today” show co- host does not dwell: her love life.
Gifford, 67, remains positively mum about any romance since the death of her husband of nearly 30 years, NFL and broadcasting legend Frank Gifford, in 2015. But it’s not because Kathie Lee is holding back on a new life chapter.
“It’s because there’s nothing going on. There’s nothing to talk about,” Gifford exclaims emphatically, speaking from her Franklin, Tennessee home in a video call. “If there was, I’d shout from the rooftop like Maria in ‘ West Side Story.’ I’d be open to falling in love again. I’d love to. But it hasn’t happened.”
Gifford has much more to discuss with what is happening amorously in her life, her passion- project movie “Then Came You” ( in theaters Wednesday via Fathom Events and on demand Friday). Starring alongside Craig Ferguson, Gifford produced, wrote the screenplay and the film’s title song for the screwball romantic comedy centered on people of a certain age who have lost loved ones and find new love.
“I don’t ever want to stop believing in love,” says Gifford. “Stop believing in love and you’ve got one foot in the grave already.”
Gifford tells an entertaining yarn of how she came to produce her first film, inspired when the equally loquacious Scotsman Ferguson filled in as a “Today” guest host in 2017. Their chemistry was so sizzling that Gifford calls it the “most explosive week of television of my career, and I’ve done a lot.”
Over lunch, Ferguson proposed doing a movie together.
Rather than leaving it as an offhand comment, Gifford woke at 2 a. m. the next morning, eager to make a movie around the magic. That day, she called Ferguson with her script.
“He said, ‘ That was just yesterday,’ “Gifford recalls Ferguson saying of the movie discussion. “I said, ‘ Yeah, well, I wrote it.’ Don’t leave a lonely woman alone long. I will do something that will lead to chaos.”
Gifford sent the script to Ferguson, who agreed to take part in her story of the recently widowed Annabelle, who plans to travel the world with her husband’s ashes visiting their favorite movie locations.
During her first stop in Scotland ( for “Braveheart), Annabelle falls for Howard ( played by Ferguson), a widowed innkeeper.
The low- budget project required unleashing relentless charm and hustle on Gifford’s part, enlisting the participation of director Adriana Trigiani and screen love rival Elizabeth Hurley after their appearances on “Today.”
“Kathie Lee gets a bee in her bonnet and she makes it happen,” says Trigiani. “She had the story vision and she was a producer, and I mean producer. She was a money wrangler.”
Gifford made significant changes to her original late- night treatment, realizing her theme would be too expensive with movie royalties.
But the sparks between Gifford and Ferguson, and Annabelle’s ultimate emotional destination, never changed. Gifford says the film is not autobiographical. “But I was two years into widowhood when I started writing it, so that was very fresh.”
One key line is taken from her own life, as Annabelle proclaims, “I’ve got to make new memories or the old ones are going to kill me.” Gifford recalls thinking the same thing when she decided to move out of her empty nest in Connecticut.
2020 also saw true love blossom for her two grown children. Daughter Cassidy, 27, married Ben Wierda in June at his Michigan family farm.
Son Cody, 30, married actress Erika Brown over Labor Day weekend at the family home in Connecticut where Frank’s ashes were spread.
“I didn’t even know what I was going to wear two days before either wedding, that’s how down- home they were,” says Gifford of the intimate outdoor celebrations, each with fewer than 20 family members and close friends. “Cassidy got married in a dress that probably cost fifty bucks, barefoot. I said, ‘ You didn’t even get a pedicure!’ She said, ‘ Who cares, Mom?’ And it was a beautiful, beautiful day. Both times. Here’s the most important thing: They married the person that swept their heart away.”
Gifford, who refuses to use online dating sites, says her shortage of suitors might be related to her high- profile life. “They are either intimidated by me and run for the hills, or intimidated by how long I was married to Frank – he was everyone’s hero. So it’s got to take a special person and it’s got to come from out of the blue.”
In the meantime, she’s planning a future for her screen romance and launched a production company targeted to women and men who have lost love, called Widow’s Peak Pictures.
“If you have a pulse, you have a purpose,” says Gifford. “I still have a big old pulse and I’m in excellent health. I’m a senior citizen. I can stand in line and get a discount to see a movie, but I’d much rather be making movies for other senior citizens to come.”
“That’s the movie message here,” she adds. “If we let what we’ve lost in life define our life, then we’ve lost. You miss out on maybe the greatest moments in your lifetime. Maybe the best is coming tomorrow.”