Kathie Lee Gifford Opens up about Her Nearly 35-Year Friendship with Regis Philbin

Thirty-four years, and counting on; Kathie Lee Gifford recently opened up about her longtime friendship with Regis Philbin, and it has serious friendship goals.

Kathie Lee Gifford met Regis Philbin in ’85 when she became his co-host on “The Morning Show,” and it marked the beginning of a great friendship that has survived over three decades.

In a recent interview with Closer Weekly, she described Philbin, as “Such a sweetheart,” adding that she loves him a lot. Gifford said that when she met her former co-host, she knew it was going to be the beginning of something magnificent in both their lives.

Three years after they met, the TV personalities started a new morning show, “Live with Regis and Kathie Lee,” and as their success grew, so did their friendship.

Interestingly, until Gifford left the show in the year 2000, she and Philbin barely saw each other outside work, but after her departure, they hung out with their spouses — Frank Gifford and Joy Philbin —and their friendship took on a new meaning.

The former “Today” host recalled that when Frank passed away in 2015 at the age of 84, the TV veteran and Joy were there for her. In her words, she was in a “Desert place,” and they knew she needed her friends.

Gifford shared two children with her late husband, Cody, and Cassidy, and in his lifetime, Frank was a former NFL player, Hall of Fame inductee, and the host of “Monday Night Football.”

Posting on Instagram at his death, Cassidy described him as someone who was kind and graceful; she wrote that she was happy the world got to share him with her and Cody and called the deceased an angel and a legend.

Gifford shares this sentiment, and those words are not far from the description she would give Philbin. Born in 1931, the former host of “Live with Regis and Kelly,” has touched lives in the decades he spent as a TV personality.

In that time, the father-of-four got 37 Daytime Emmy nominations and won six. He has a college degree from the University of Notre Dame and served in the US Navy for three years. Philbin is a Television Hall of Fame inductee, and appeared as himself in “Miss Congeniality” and “Spin City.”

At 65 and 87 respectively, Gifford and Philbin whose friendship was instant, are still going strong. They are an example that when two people like and love each other genuinely, nothing can tear them apart.