Kathie Lee Gifford, the widely known TV presenter, singer and actress, is worth millions.
Kathie has enjoyed major success for decades, Kathie who is also an author is well recognized for her 15-year run on the talk show Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee; and later for hosting The Today Show.
She has become extremely popular across several social media platforms making her a popular public figure who has amassed million of followers and million to her bank account.
Want to know more? Keep reading and learn personal details about Kathie Lee Gifford, Kathie Lee Gifford success, her career, Kathie Lee Gifford net worth and a lot more.
Kathie Lee Gifford Net worth timeline
Kathie Lee Gifford worth timeline begins when she won the state Junior Miss pageant and visited Mobile in Alabama to represent Maryland in the competition.
In the early 1970s, when she agreed to work as a live-in secretary and babysitter for Christian singer, Anita Bryant at her home in Miami.
In 1972, she sang on Oral Roberts’ television show that was broadcast from Burbank, California. She also traveled throughout the Bible Belt, attending revival meetings.
She released three gospel albums between 1976 and 1978, and appeared on religious television shows like ‘The 700 Club’
In 1977-78, she was featured as a singer on ‘Name That Tune’. This exposure opened up a number of career opportunities, including a role in the TV sitcom ‘Hee Haw Honeys’.
In June 1985, she replaced Ann Abernathy as co-host of ‘The Morning Show’ on WABC-TV with Regis Philbin. The program was re-introduced in 1988 as ‘Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee.
In the late 1990s, she worked in musical theatre.
She left ‘Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee -in July 2000 to concentrate on her musical career.
She released a number of albums, including ‘The Heart of a Woman’ and ‘Born for You’ in 2000, and ‘Party Animals’ in 2002.
In 2005, she became a special correspondent on ‘The Insider’, an entertainment magazine television show.
In 2006, she played the role of Miss Hannigan in a concert performance of ‘Annie’ at Madison Square Garden.
In 2007, she premiered ‘Saving Aimee’, a stage musical about Aimee McPherson, with actress Carolee Carmello in the lead role. The show ran on Broadway.
In April 2008, she joined Hoda Kotb on NBC’s morning show ‘Today’ as a co-anchor.
Kathie Lee Gifford Net worth 2021
According to online sources, Kathie Lee Gifford net worth in 2021 is estimated at $60 million.
Kathie Lee Gifford Sponsorships
She became a spokesperson for Ultra Slim-Fast diet shakes, and was also the face of Carnival Cruise Lines, Home Furnishings Council and Revlon in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Kathie Lee Gifford Book deal
Ms. Gifford has authored three NY Times bestselling books including: Just When I Thought I’d Dropped My Last Egg, I Can’t Believe I Said That, and the popular children’s book Party Animals.
Her book, Good Gifts, A Year in The Heart of a Home, raised over $1 million for the Salvation Army.
Other of her titles include: The Rock, the Road, and the Rabbi: My Journey ino the Heart of Scriptural Faith and the Land Where It All Began, The Gift That I Can Give and It’s Never Too Late: Make the Next Act of Your Life the Best Act of Your Life.
Kathie Lee Gifford Early life
Kathryn Lee Epstein was born on August 16th of 1953 in Paris, France. At the time, her father was serving as a Navy Chief Petty Officer for the US Navy. Kathie’s mother was also American. Soon enough, the family relocated to Bowie, Maryland where Kathie attended high school.
Although she was raised in a family with Jewish heritage, she became a born-again Christian at age 12. During her high school years, Kathie Lee became a singer in a folk group. She continued to pursue music at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she studied drama and music.
Kathie Lee Gifford Career
During the 1970s, Kathie Lee made a name for herself as a vocalist on the game show Name that Tune. By 1978, she was booking roles on shows like Hee Haw Honeys.
Kathie Lee’s career began in earnest when she replaced Anne Abernathy as the co-host for The Morning Show on WABC-TV in 1985. The program later became Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee in 1988, and the show was nationally syndicated. At this point, Kathie Lee had already married the well-known Frank Gifford, and viewers were often treated with stories from inside her family home. After a long run that had made her one of the most well-known women in America, Kathie Lee Gifford left Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee in 2000.
In 2008, Kathie Lee Gifford joined NBC’s Today show with a co-hosting role alongside Hoda Kotb during the fourth hour. After just one year, Kathie Lee Gifford helped raise Today’s ratings by 13%. She left the show in 2019, and that year she also won an Emmy Award.
Kathie Lee Gifford Charity
She is a celebrity ambassador for the non-profit organization Childhelp. She makes appearances at fund raising events for child abuse prevention.
She raised money for, and also financially supported two shelters in New York City for babies born with HIV or a congenital crack cocaine addiction. These shelters were named after her children, Cody and Cassidy.
In August 2017, she joined the Animal Medical Center’s (AMC) Board of Trustees and will serve for a three-year term.
Kathie Lee Gifford House
In 2019, it was reported that she had purchased a $3.7 million home in Franklin, Tennessee after moving out of her longtime home in Connecticut. Franklin is an exclusive suburb on the outskirts of Nashville, and many other celebrities call this neighborhood home.
The brownstone home was built in 2008 and features a staggering 9,000 square feet of living space. Less than a year prior to this purchase, Gifford purchased another brownstone home in the same area, also for $3.7 million. This second property is smaller than the first with a square footage of 7,965.
Kathie Lee Gifford Success and Achievements
Kathie Lee Gifford is best known for her appearance in the TV talk show ‘Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee’ which she co-hosted with Regis Philbin. The show, which ran for over a decade, was a highly successful one and helped establish Gifford as a household name in America.
The four-time Emmy Award-winner, won her first Daytime Emmy in 2010 for her contribution to the TV show ‘Today.’
Kathie Lee Gifford Ventures
Outside of talk shows, Kathie Lee Gifford has appeared in a number of films and other television shows. In 1994, she appeared as herself in an episode of Seinfeld. In 1998, she worked as a voice actor on the animated TV series Hercules. In 2006, she starred in a concert performance of Annie at Madison Square Garden.
Over the years, she has participated in many other musical theater productions. In 2010, she and her daughter appeared on The Suite Life on Deck. In addition, Kathie Lee Gifford had a cameo in Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!
In 2014, she penned the critically-acclaimed TODAY, the Musical, featuring the hosts and crew of the show.
She has written several musicals, including Broadway’s Scandalous, for which she received a Tony nomination for Best Actress. She also starred on Broadway in Putting It Together and Annie.
After leaving Today in 2019, Kathie Lee Gifford embarked on a new career as an actress, director, and producer. She aims to make a number of films in the future.
Kathie also launched GIFFT, a line of wine with the Scheid Family Vineyards in Monterey, CA.
Kathie Lee Gifford Husbands
Kathie Lee Gifford has been married a couple of times and is currently a widow.
In 1976, Kathie Lee Gifford married Paul Johnson. She later admitted that it was a show-biz marriage; it lasted for six years.
After her divorce from Johnson in 1983, she met ex-NFL player and sports commentator Frank Gifford during an episode of ‘Good Morning America’. They were married from 1986 till his death in 2015.
Frank Gifford died in August 2015 at the age of 85 and left his entire estate to Kathie. His estate included $10 million worth of liquid assets, a $2.5 million house in Florida, and a $22 million mansion in Connecticut.
Kathie Lee Gifford Children
Kathie Lee Gifford and second husband Frank Gifford welcomed two children.
Their son Cody Newton Gifford was born on March 22, 1990 and daughter Cassidy Erin Gifford was born on August 2, 1993.
Cody followed in his parents’ famous footsteps as he pursued a career in acting and TV. According to IMDb, Cody attended Oxford University in Tennessee, where he produced a movie titled American Patriot. He also studied at the University of Southern California and played football.
Since graduating from college, Cody became the founder and acting principal of Little Giant Productions — which has “sold, developed and executive produced content for Warner Bros. Television and the Hallmark Channel,” IMDb noted.
In September 2020, Cody married his college sweetheart, Erika Brown, during a romantic wedding ceremony.
Daughter Cassidy also graduated from the University of Southern California. Aside from being an accomplished actress, who appeared in a plethora of films including The Gallows, Tim Trap, Twisted Sisters and many more, Cassidy is also a stunning model. In 2015, she was even chosen as one of Esquire magazine’s “18 Beautiful Women America Won’t Be Able to Resist This Summer.”
In June 2020, Cassidy also walked the isle and married her longtime love, Ben Wierda.
Kathie Lee Gifford Boyfriend
Gifford may have found love again with her rumored boyfriend, Randy Cronk. “I am dating a very sweet guy,” she told the Daily Mail in February 2020.
Cronk is an insurance agent living in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and is a decade younger than Gifford. Cronk appeared in a group photo Gifford posted on Instagram in July 2019, in which he is standing next to her with his arm tightly around her waist.
Cronk is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, and graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with a degree in computer science in 1986. He is now the president of Nationwide Insurance affiliate RMC Insurance Group, LLC.
Lessons learned from Kathie Lee Gifford
Notable lessons we can learn from Kathie Lee Gifford and her incredible career include, making the most of hard times.
From the humiliation of her divorce to the tragic death of Frank, Gifford gets candid in her new book about the many tragedies in her life, yet inspires by sharing how she coped with these challenges.
She details her mental growth and confidence after her first husband, Paul Johnson, left her without any notice, and how she wrote the successful song “He Saw Jesus” about her second husband, after his death in 2015. Most notably, she decided to transform her life after her depression as an empty-nester by moving to Nashville, Tennessee, a place she calls her new “home.”
Our Favorite Kathie Lee Gifford Quotes
We’re imperfect people trapped in an imperfect world until we get to that place beyond.
A fear of the unknown keeps a lot of people from leaving bad situations.
To me an audition is 30 crazed people in a room waiting to be axed.
Why do I pray? Because I never know what’s going to pop out of my mouth.
I felt no stigma whatsoever in becoming the third Mrs. Gifford.
Love in the real world means saying you’re sorry 10 times a day.
Where does Kathie Lee Gifford live?
Currently, she lives in Tennessee.
What does Kathie Lee Gifford do now?
Kathie Lee Gifford is continuously working on new and innovative projects and posting throughout her different media channels.
Most recently she released her new memoir “It’s Never Too Late: Make the Next Act of Your Life the Best Act of Your Life,” in which she offers encouragement and wisdom to women embarking on major life changes.
Another recent project of Gifford is the 2020 rom-com movie “Then Came You,” -which she wrote with comedian Craig Ferguson.
Kathie Lee Gifford is active on most popular social media platforms including
Kathie Lee Gifford Instagram
Kathie Lee Gifford is active on Instagram where she has over 470k followers.
Kathie Lee Gifford Twitter
Kathie Lee Gifford is active on Twitter where she has 1.3 million followers.
Kathie Lee Gifford Facebook
Kathie Lee Gifford can also be found on Facebook with 685k followers.
Kathie Lee Gifford Website
You can also check out her website for more info.
