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Vibrant “Today” show hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb cover the June/July cover of AARP The Magazine and speak about their outlooks on love and life, being themselves on national television, and the influence their strong friendship has had on their lives.
The cover stars will also reveal that they are hosting AARP’s Faces of 50+ contest, a real people model search. Information regarding the contest can be found through http://sweeps.aarp.org/
Interview Quotes:
On giving The Today Show a fourth hour makeover
Hoda Kotb: “[When it first launched in 2007] it was a bore. It needed a spark plug.”
Kathie Lee Gifford: “It needed trouble!”
HK: “[Kathie Lee] changed the room the minute she got there. People were laughing.”
On returning to television
KLG: “It’s so hard to find magic the first time. To think it could happen twice…?”
On the genesis of their friendship
KLG: “I only knew the Dateline Hoda, but I had lunch with the happy hour Hoda. I loved her! [I said] You’re the kind of person I’d be friends with for the rest of my life.”
KLG: “I thought my heart didn’t have any more room for more people. I felt I didn’t have enough time for the friends I already had. But if I hadn’t made room for Hoda, I would have missed out on one of the great blessings of my life.”
HK: “I say thank you to Kathie Lee all the time. Before her, I’d still be doing what I was doing and not know what I was missing. My life would be half as full.”
On their show’s uniqueness
HK: “Our show is a place to forget your troubles.”
KLG: “We don’t take ourselves seriously. If we’re having fun, our audience has fun. Fun is contagious.”
KLG: “Everybody started wanting cocktails, and we couldn’t be rude.”
HK: “[The wine] is a prop as much as anything, but it invites you to the party.”
On maintaining a sunny disposition
HK: “At that point you either look for potholes everywhere, or you realize your life has margins, and you stop wasting time.”
KLG: “If you have a pulse, you have a purpose. Every morning, before I get out of bed now, I take my pulse. If I have one, that means that God’s not finished with me yet. I still have work to do on this planet.”
On finding love again
HK: “I’m a believer that the next great love can be around the corner. Anderson Cooper’s mom [Gloria Vanderbilt] once said, ‘I love falling in love.’ That totally lit me up. I really want to meet the right guy for me.”