Kathie Lee Gifford says a “cruel” casting agent told her she wasn’t “pretty” enough to star in Charlie’s Angels.
“She goes, ‘Let me tell you right now, you’re not right for Charlie’s Angels,’” Gifford, 70, told People in an interview published on Thursday, June 6, recalling that the agent said the studio was “looking for a pretty girl.”
Gifford claimed that the agent persisted with an insulting rant, stating, “You know, like Jaclyn Smith pretty, gorgeous, gorgeous.”
“It was like kicking me to the gut. I started to think it was funny. I really did,” she reflected. “And as I’m walking out, I looked at her and I said, ‘OK, well, thank you so much.’”
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The former Today host also recalled saying, “‘When you’re casting a cartoon, let me know.’ I left thanking God that I could laugh about it.”
Gifford viewed the disappointment as a teachable moment, telling People that she recognized the “unnecessary” cruelty of the agent’s words. “She didn’t say ‘Sorry, honey, have a nice life. You’re not what we’re looking for.’ She had to be cruel,” she continued. “She had to be the exact opposite of what my dad taught me to be. The fact that I remember her name to this day is because she was so cruel.”
The detective series — which ran from 1976 to 1981 — originally featured Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson with many replacements over the years.
Gifford has been focusing on forgiveness since releasing a new memoir titled Want to Matter: Your Life Is Too Short and Too Precious to Waste in April.
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While promoting her book last month, Gifford told Fox News that she patched up her decades-long feud with Howard Stern after recently bumping into the radio host.
“I’d never met the man, never until that day, never listened to his show or anything like that,” she told the outlet. “I [heard] he said certain things about me. I’d go, ‘Why? I don’t even know the man.’”
Stern, 70, called her later to explain he’s “doing hard work on my life” and to clear the air.
“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,’” Gifford continued. “‘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.’”
