Here's what's next for the beloved TV personality!
One of TV's most cherished on-air duos is parting ways.
On Tuesday morning, Kathie Lee Gifford announced that, after nearly 11 years on the Today show, she will be stepping down from her hosting role in 2019. This means Hoda Kotb will be looking for a new co-host soon. The news also begs the question: what does Gifford intend to do next?
After making the big announcement, the 65-year-old TV personality revealed that she’s determined to pursue a number of creative endeavors including an 11-minute film she’ll be making in Israel soon. The film is going to be her first directing project and is based on a song she wrote, which will be released in April.
But that’s just the beginning. She also revealed that she plans to do four more films with Whiskey and Wine Ltd., the production company with whom she made the upcoming film Love Me to Death (it's also been titled Then Came You) alongside Craig Ferguson.
"The roadblocks are gone. It just seems like it's the time,” she declared before hinting that she also “sorta” has a project in the works with Dolly Parton and Roma Downey. Needless to say, Gifford has absolutely no plans to slow down.
"I have something to share with everybody and it's bittersweet, as these things always are, but I've been here almost 11 years," she began her departure announcement. "Thought I would stay one year. Something happened along the way. Fell in love with a beautiful Egyptian goddess and now, when it's our 11th anniversary, I'm gonna be leaving the Today show. It's an exciting time for me and I'm thrilled about all the projects that are coming up, but it's also hard because the reason that I stayed longer than a year is because I love everybody here so much."
She went on to heap praise and love on the show’s crew, especially Kotb.
"I've been in this business 120 years and [have] never worked with a more beautiful group of people who just give, give, give every day for four hours of live television every day, five days a week," Gifford continued. "And we have fun and we laugh and we support one another and we know each other's kids' names. We know when somebody's having a colonoscopy. We know everything! We do life together. And nobody more so than my Hoda."
Gifford will be leaving the show after April 7, 2019.
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