Kathie Lee Gifford Says She Couldn’t Believe The ‘Today’ Show Wanted To Hire A Post-Menopausal ‘Has-Been’

Kathie Lee Gifford has always been known to be an outspoken person, but the morning TV host is now speaking out about herself. In a new interview with Dujour magazine, Kathie Lee said she considered herself to be a has-been when the Today show came calling in 2008. And a post-menopausal one at that!

In the interview, Gifford revealed that she was having lunch in New York City when Today host Natalie Morales and her producer Amy Rosenblum offered her a one-day guest role on Today. Gifford said after the network saw her chemistry with the other staffers, they wanted her back for more, but she initially wasn’t interested in going back to morning TV because she believed she had already done the best 15 years of television possible with Regis Philbin on their show Live With Regis and Kathie Lee in the 1980s and ’90s. Gifford also revealed that she was shocked that NBC would even want to hire her at all because she was over 50.

“I said, ‘I can’t, but call me another time,’ and a couple of months went by and NBC started calling me for meetings. I was flattered and deeply grateful, but I was 55 at the time and I just thought, ‘Wow, how times have changed. Somebody was interested in a post-menopausal woman—and a has-been at that.'”

Obviously, she accepted the job, and eight years later, Kathie Lee and her partner in crime, Hoda Kotb, continue to helm the popular fourth hour of the Today show. Gifford says audiences see the real her on the NBC morning show — no acting. She also explained why she only took a week off from work when her husband Frank Gifford passed away last year. While some questioned her quick return, Kathie Lee said she “needed” to come back. On her first day back, she offered a tear-filled tribute to her late husband that had viewers crying right along with her and Hoda.

“NBC was so gracious to me, and said to take all the time that I needed, but I felt that it was important to come back. I felt like I needed to.”

Kathie Lee Gifford has made plenty of headlines during her time on Today. In addition to her early morning wine toasts with Hoda, she had an awkward interview in 2012 when she asked actor Martin Short about his long marriage, unaware that his wife had passed away from ovarian cancer two years earlier. After Gifford commented that Short and his late wife Nancy Dolman had “one of the greatest marriages of anybody in show business,” she then asked the actor how many years they have been together and if they were still in love. Short didn’t embarrass Kathie Lee on air, telling her he was still “madly, madly in love” and joking that his wife stayed with him because he’s “cute,” but after a commercial break Gifford informed viewers of her faux pas. According to ABC News, Kathie Lee later tweeted Martin Short to publicly apologize, but she used the wrong Twitter handle!

Still, Kathie Lee’s hits have been much more frequent than her misses. While she once thought herself as a post-menopausal has-been, it sounds like she is still ready for new challenges at age 62. Indeed, Kathie Lee told Dujour she’s ready for what life brings her.

When life stops being challenging, you might as well say sayonara, sister. Because the joy of living is finding out something brand new every day.

Take a look at the video to see Kathie Lee Gifford talking about her worst interview ever.

[Photo By Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images]