Kathie Lee Gifford's New Love 'Struggling to Compete' With Memory of Talk Show Host's Late Husband Frank: Sources
May 19 2023, Published 5:00 a.m. ET
Kathie Lee Gifford found love again with her boyfriend, Richard Spitz, but insiders close to the former Today cohost claim her smitten beau is "struggling to compete" with the memory of her late husband, Frank Gifford.
RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned that Gifford, 69, and her 62-year-old Nashville-based businessman are very much infatuated with each other and envision a future together, even enjoying a romantic trip to Italy in recent weeks.
However, sources claim he is having a tough time dealing with one aspect of their relationship.
"Frank will always be the love of Kathie Lee's life," one tipster claimed. "She has made it very clear that she will never replace him. That's very difficult for any new boyfriend to hear, especially when there are still pictures of Frank all over her house."
The beloved TV personality began dating Spitz 7 years after Frank's tragic death from natural causes in August 2015. Her second husband passed away a week before his 85th birthday.
"Everyone hoped moving to Nashville and starting over would help Kathie Lee move on without Frank, but it hasn't," a pal spilled, adding that "Richard is being very understanding" and supportive as she navigates her grief years after his passing.
Gifford had been open about how she coped with the heartbreaking loss of her longtime love whom she married in October 1986, admitting that she struggled with "crippling" loneliness before relocating.
"This home of mine in Connecticut, where Frank and I raised our beautiful children and we had so many happy years, when I was living there alone," she explained. "Dogs can only do so much for you, and I love my dogs."
"It came to feel like a mortuary with me just there alone," Gifford confessed to Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager, revealing it prompted her to "make a new life for myself" so she could honor his memory and move forward as he would have wanted her to.
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Last summer, she gushed over her new man and said she enjoyed a more low-key way of living after stepping out of the spotlight. "I have someone very special in my life," she proudly shared in August 2022. "I've discovered that by not talking about it, it stays special."
"I've found personal happiness here, is the best way to say it," Gifford added.
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