Kathie Lee Gifford Reflects on Being Open About Motherhood While Hosting 'Live': 'I Got Graphic'

Kathie Lee Gifford chatted with Tamron Hall about one of the big changes the former Live host made to morning TV by talking openly about motherhood

Photo: Tamron Hall Show; Steve Friedman / ©Buena Vista/courtesy Everett Collection

Kathie Lee Gifford wasn't afraid to get real about mom life on live TV.

Appearing on Tamron Hall on Wednesday, Hall noted how inspirational it was to see Gifford — who co-hosted Live With Regis and Kathie Lee, which became nationally syndicated in 1988 and ran until her departure in 2000 — speak openly about her life as a mom during her time on daytime TV.

"You would talk about your children, Cassidy and Cody, and I remember the parodies," Hall said. "And I thought, 'Wait a minute, this is a woman who is a working mom on TV and she's doing what we all do at work, we just talk about our children.'"

"But I was paid to do it," Gifford joked.

"And it always rubbed people [the wrong way], it was so peculiar," Hall added, noting her own son was elsewhere in the studio as she filmed. "I think about your journey, to be on TV and share your children, share who you are, your authentic self."

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Gifford reminded viewers that when she started hosting Live, "I happened to be single, and then I met Frank, and then we got married and then I had our children a couple of years later."

"So Regis' children were already grown," going on to joke that the then-teens did not want to be mentioned on the show. "He would talk about what movie he saw last night, Mr. Out About Town."

"I would go, 'I have mastitis and my nipples are killing me," she recalled with laughter.

Hall also laughed, noting, "Nobody ever talked about motherhood like that."

Erika Grifford/Instagram

"It was the first time. I got a little graphic about it at times because I'm an actress," Gifford said with a laugh, recalling the situation that she said made Philbin cringe.

"We were just each other's best audience. I just miss him every day," she added. "I loved that man dearly."

Elsewhere in the interview, Gifford touched on being a grandmother to son Cody, 30, and wife Erika Brown's baby boy, Frank Michael — named after the late Frank Gifford, Kathie Lee's husband and Cody and sister Cassidy Gifford's father.