Kathie Lee Quits
Kathie Lee Gifford stunned her talk show audience Tuesday morning by announcing that she would not come back for a 15th year. Her contract is up in July.
Live With Regis And Kathie Lee is in its 12th year as a nationally syndicated program, following three years as a local show in New York City.
Gifford told her co-host Regis Philbin that "it's time." Philbin asked if she was kidding — and she said no.
Gifford was a guest host on The Late Show With David Letterman last week, which she joked was a great change for her.
"I get to sit in for a cranky overpaid prima donna instead of sitting next to one," she said.
Late last year, Gifford filled in for Carol Burnett as the lead of the Broadway musical revue, Putting It Together. She has also been a vacation substitute in other Broadway musicals. Additionally, she is the spokeswoman for a number of advertisers.
"I think ultimately she probably grew frustrated wtih the whole thing," Kansas City Star television critic Aaron Barnhardt told CBS Radio News. "She has all the money and fame she'll ever need, so why extend it?"
Barnhardt said Gifford doesn't need the daily show any more.
"She go do live Atlantic City, can do Letterman, can continue to do CBS Christmas specials," he said. "This is only one part of the enterprise known as 'Kathy Lee Gifford.'"
Born on August 15, 1953, in Paris, France, to an American naval officer and his radio singer wife, the former Kathie Lee Epstein has been married since October 1986 to former football star and sportscaster Frank Gifford, despite a much-publicized 1997 scandal.
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