Kathie Lee Gifford has admitted that she's "never watched" an episode of LIVE! since she left the show in 2000. Following a 15-year tenure at the helm of the ABC broadcast, Kathie bid farewell to Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee, and was consequently succeeded a year later by Kelly Ripa.
Back in February 2026, Kelly celebrated 25 years at the helm of LIVE!. Kelly took over for Kathie as Regis Philbin's cohost in 2001 and has remained on the show ever since. Following Regis' exit in 2011, she was joined by Michael Strahan from 2012 to 2016 and Ryan Seacrest from 2017 to 2023.
Mark Consuelos – who shares kids Michael, Lola, and Joaquin, with his wife – joined LIVE! officially in 2023 following Ryan's departure. Ryan left the show due to the demands of traveling back and forth between his home in Los Angeles and the studio in New York, as well as his desire to focus on other projects.
© Getty ImagesIn a new interview with People, Kathie shared her thoughts on her LIVE! successor. "I wasn't interested,"she said, regarding whether she kept up with the show after she left. "I was making movies and writing for theater! I wrote about four different musicals."
Kathie called her time working with Regis on the show "the golden years". "Regis would tease everybody he liked, and if he wasn't happy, he'd go, 'Quickly and efficiently!' And I would go, 'Aging!'" she said. "Oh, I loved him. He was so much fun. We never had a cross word in 15 years. I miss him every day."
© Getty ImagesRegis passed away at the age of 88 in 2020. Kathie shared that her former co-star wouldn't often call her and ask whether he could bring friends to her house in Connecticut. "He'd say, 'Kath, so-and-so is in town, and they want to see your house. Can I come over and bring them?'" she recalled. "I'd say, 'Regis, I'm in Italy.' He'd go, 'Oh, that's okay. They don't want to see you. They just want to see your house.' "
© Getty ImagesShe continued: "I forgot how many times Regis and I were nominated for Emmys, and we never won," she says. "I'll never forget the year I left, I was asked to host the daytime Emmys and Regis won best host. I came out, and I go, 'Well, now we know what the problem was. It was me.'"
© Getty ImagesEight years after her LIVE! exit, Kathie went on to co-host the Today Show's Fourth Hour with Hoda Kotb. She left the role in 2019 to focus on her independent projects. "I missed being an artist and writing," she admitted. "People come up to me all the time and say, 'How could you leave your dream job twice? At the height of all your success you left Regis and then you left Today with Hoda.' I always smile at them, and I go, 'You're just assuming it was my dream job.' The Today show was never my dream job, but I did it well."
