Kathie Lee Gifford reflected on her longtime relationship with her good friend and former co-host Regis Philbin on NBC’s Today. Regis passed away over the weekend at the age of 88.
ON HER LAST MEETING WITH REGIS:
“I was just so grateful the Lord gave me that final time,” Gifford said on TODAY Monday. “And it was so precious because when I talked to Joy the day that I found out right after he had passed, she said, ‘Kathie he hadn’t laughed in a long, long time.’ She said, ‘I was so worried about him.’
ON THEIR WORK DYNAMIC:
“When we first started, we had no idea what we had, but we knew what we didn’t want,” Gifford said. “We didn’t want writers, we didn’t want a million producers, we didn’t want it overproduced. We just wanted to sit there and have fun together.
“We never talked before the show. We didn’t have what they call ‘elements’ in our business. He’d hold up the newspaper, and we’re off to the races. Or I’d say, (my son) Cody threw up, and we were off to the races. We never planned it.”
FINAL WORDS:
“There are no words to fully express the love I have for my precious friend, Regis,” the former co-host of TODAY’s fourth hour wrote. “I simply adored him and every day with him was a gift. We spent 15 years together bantering and bickering and laughing ourselves silly — a tradition and a friendship we shared up to this very day.
“I smile knowing somewhere in Heaven, at this very moment, he’s making someone laugh,” she continued. “It brings me great comfort knowing that he had a personal relationship with his Lord that brought him great peace. I send all the love in my heart to Joy, to his children, to the rest of his family and to the innumerable people he touched over his legendary life. There has never been anyone like him. And there never will be.”
TVGrapevine sends condolences to Regis’s loved ones.