Kathie Lee Gifford said Howard Stern called to ask for forgiveness after their 30-year feud.
The call took place after Gifford and Stern, both 70, initially reconnected at the Today show while Stern was there to promote his appearance as a judge on America’s Got Talent.
“I came to the Today show studio and the Lord again said, ‘Kathie, go down and say hello to him,’” Gifford told Fox News in an interview published on Tuesday, May 28. “And I said, ‘OK, Lord.’”
Gifford claimed that God told her to “wish [Stern] well with the show,” adding, “So I got up out of my hair and makeup place and those girls had been told, ‘Don’t let Kathie go anywhere near the studio because Howard Stern’s coming.’”
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Gifford, however, decided to do her own thing. “I go downstairs and they said, ‘Where are you going?’” she explained. “I said, ‘I’m going to go say hello to Howard.’”
Gifford recalled Stern as being “very, very tall,” noting, “There were so many people that day because he brings quite the entourage. . . . I said, ‘Hey, it’s Kathie Lee.’ I thought it was about time. I said, ‘I want to wish you all the best with the new show.’ I got up, went back, sat down in the makeup room. They’d said, ‘Why’d you do that?’ I said, ‘God told me to.’”
The former Today show cohost said that Stern “left a voicemail” later on.
“And he says — I can’t even use the language that he used,” Gifford quipped. “It was a lot of F-words, but he was saying, ‘I can’t believe how nice you were to me. I’ve been so rude to you and you were so nice. I just need to apologize to you. Please call me.’”
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Gifford recalled later having dinner with her family when she received a call from someone whose number was hidden.
“I said, ‘That’s him.’ My husband and son did not want me to take that call. He was horrible to me and horrendous to my entire family,” she recalled. “I’d never met the man, never until that day, never listened to his show or anything like that. I [heard] he said certain things about me. I’d go, ‘Why? I don’t even know the man.’”
During their conversation, Gifford said that Stern asked, “Will you forgive me, Kathie, please? I’m doing hard work on my life. I know I hurt you. I’m so sorry and I need to ask you to forgive me.”
“I said, ‘I’m really happy for you that you’re asking for forgiveness, because anytime we hurt somebody in life, it’s important to ask for forgiveness,’” she explained. “‘But I just want you to know that I forgave you 30 years ago.’ He goes, ‘What?’ I said, ‘I forgave you 30 years ago, and I’ve been praying for you every day since. And it’s the truth.’ He goes, ‘Oh, my God.’ I said, ‘Would you like to come to dinner sometime?’ He goes, ‘You’d have me at your house?’ I said, ‘Of course.’”
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She noted that the radio show host is “a very odd duck,” adding, “But then I saw him a couple of times over at Sirius, and we were fine. I can get along with a rock.”
According to Fox News, Gifford delved into the power of forgiveness through her relationship with Stern in her new memoir, Want to Matter: Your Life Is Too Short and Too Precious to Waste.
The book stated that the feud between Gifford and Stern began in 1995 when she was selected to sing the national anthem at Super Bowl XXIX, where her husband, former NFL player and sportscaster Frank Gifford, was scheduled to broadcast.
Gifford wrote that she heard booing while she sang and later discovered that Stern had instructed his listeners to boo her.
