Kathie Lee Gifford revealed on the Today show Friday, Aug. 21, that her late husband, Frank Gifford, was doing well just prior to his passing earlier this month.
“You know what I hadn’t told people?” Gifford said to co-hosts and longtime pals Hoda Kotb and Regis Philbin. “He had just gotten the best medical report he’d had in eight years on Friday. He was doing great.”
“When the Lord calls you home, you go home,” she continued. “What are you going to do, argue with the Lord? I don’t think so.”
Frank, who was a former New York Giants star, died of natural causes at his Connecticut home on Sunday, Aug. 9. He was 84. The couple have two grown children together — daughter Cassidy, 22, and son Cody, 25.
The morning talk show host has been insistent on staying positive through the tough times, and told fans that she honored Frank’s wishes by having a party instead of a funeral in his memory.
“Frank hated funerals. He hated boxes. He hated to be put in boxes,” she said on the Today show on Tuesday, Aug. 18. “He hated to get in an elevator, so we played Frank Sinatra all day long and we partied. The only criteria was, if you were there you had to be somebody that he adored, so it kept it nice and small.”
On Monday, Kotb shared a touching anecdote that Kathie had shared with her following Frank’s death.
“Kath said something to me yesterday,” said Kotb, a longtime friend of the couple. “She said, ‘This is not a tragedy.’ I was holding her hand, and she said, ‘A 4-year-old girl having cancer is a tragedy. Frank lived to almost 85.’ She said, ‘He lived an incredible life, has an incredible family, had an incredible legacy.’ She said, ‘His life is a triumph.’”
