Kathie Lee Gifford's Last Day on "Today" is Now Known
The Christian host is moving on to screenwriting, among other things.
Kathie Lee Gifford has co-hosted the fourth hour of NBC's Today show since 2008, but annouced at the end of last year that she would be stepping down. Now we know that April 5th will be her final broadcast.
On this morning's broadcast, she and co-host Hoda Kotb revealed that Jenna Bush Hager will replace her. The daughter of former president George W. Bush and Laura Bush, Hager has long been a correspondent and fill-in host on the show.
As for Gifford, who is now 65, she is already busy with her next career: Hollywood screenwriter. She discussed on air today how she settled on that.
"I'm at the age now when a lot of the people have senior citizen discounts to go to the movies. And I said, well I'm going to write the movies for the senior citizen discounts."
Gifford is, of course, a past star of stage and screen, so this isn't such an incredible stretch for her. She has previously said she "prays about everything," and it would seem the Lord is blessing her latest endeavor.
"I'm so excited, so excited. Just optioned another one (screenplay) yesterday. I mean, it's just all lining up and it's thrilling."
The first film project we can expect from screenwriter Gifford is called Then You Came. The movie, which she will also star in, is about a widow who wants to travel the globe with her late husband's ashes, visiting the places they loved in movies. There is as yet no targeted release date.