Kathie Lee Gifford reveals ‘horrible’ Howard Stern apologized for feud: ‘Pigs have now officially flown’
They buried the hatchet.
Kathie Lee Gifford has revealed how she ended her 30-year feud with Howard Stern.
The former “Today” co-anchor, 70, who is promoting her book “I Want To Matter: Your Life Is Too Short & Too Precious To Waste,” told Fox News Digital that “it was a surprise” when she received a voicemail from the disc jockey.
“Once I listened to it, I said to my kids at the table, ‘Well, pigs have now officially flown.’ [But] I just always believe God can touch anybody’s heart,” she said in an interview published Tuesday. “I’m not allowed to hate anybody that hates me. Once you start praying for people, you can’t hate them. Love cannot live where hate does, and it’s a very simple thing.”
Gifford and Stern’s feud began in 1995, after she sang the National Anthem at the Super Bowl that year.
Her husband, NFL player Frank Gifford, who died in 2015 at age 84, hosted the live telecast.
Gifford writes in her book that she heard booing when she sang, and she recalled that she eventually learned that Stern had told his fans to boo.
Stern also made additional scathing comments about Gifford on-air in 1999.
Then in 2012, they got on friendly terms when he came on “Kathie Lee & Hoda” to promote his time on “America’s Got Talent,” she explained.
“I came to the ‘Today’ show studio and the Lord again said, ‘Kathie, go down and say hello to him,’” Gifford told the outlet.
“And I said, ‘OK, Lord.’”
She said 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.’”
She recalled, “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 said, ‘Why’d you do that?’ I said, ‘God told me to.’”
Following that incident, Stern called and left her a voicemail.
“He says — I can’t even use the language that he used,” Gifford said.
“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.’
She further detailed how husband Frank and their son, Cody, didn’t want her to take the call.
“He was horrible to me and horrendous to my entire family,” she said about Stern.
“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.’”
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.”
She continued, “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. 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.’”
