Kathie Lee Gifford opens up about being in a 'special relationship' after husband Frank’s passing

Kathie Lee Gifford is on her way to finding love for the first time since her husband Frank Gifford died in 2015, sharing with the hosts of TODAY that she's the happiest she's been in some time.

"I’m in a really special relationship with somebody that is nice and fun and healthy, so that’s good," the former co-host shared on Thursday. "It’s just happy and I don’t want to mess it up and I probably already have by just even mentioning it. But to be in a place where you feel like every aspect of your life is good, that nothing’s missing, and that’s a beautiful place to be. I’m just so grateful."

The 67-year-old went on to discuss her blossoming relationship with Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager in a later segment where she maintained that she's "not ready" to start talking about it in detail. However, she shared what she could about the new man.

"I’ve just found somebody that is so much fun to be with. He’s challenging to me, he’s the smartest person I’ve ever met. But he’s funny and we have a great time together," Gifford said. "So at this point in my life, that’s exactly what I need and exactly what I want. Different seasons of life. We weren’t meant to know each other before, it’s right now. We don’t know what the future holds at all, but we’re having fun today."

Gifford also spoke about the "huge community of faith" that she's found in her new home outside of Nashville, Tenn. where she's been since 2019. On a prior visit to her old stomping ground at TODAY, Gifford shared that the move was inspired by the "crippling" loneliness that she had come to feel in her Connecticut home that she had shared with Frank before his death. "I said, ‘I need to make a new life for myself or this one’s gonna kill me,’" she recalled in Jan. 2020.

Later that month, she shared that she had started to date but hadn't met anyone special just yet. "I don’t expect any man to ever fill my husband’s cleats, nobody will ever be Frank Gifford,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “I’m not looking for that. I’m not looking for anything. If he comes along, I’ll know."

Now, it seems that Gifford has stumbled upon someone just right.

"I’m probably the most blessed woman on the planet," she told Kotb and Hager, "and I do feel the happiest that I’ve been in years, in years."

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