Kathie Lee Gifford is just a week away from departing the "Today" show after an 11-year run — her last day is April 5. But she's hardly retiring from show business.
Page Six reports that Kathie Lee, 65, is poised to become a movie mogul — and she's moving to Nashville!
Last summer, she filmed the rom-com "Then Came You" with Scotsman Craig Ferguson, who hosted "The Late Late Show" on CBS from 2005 to 2014. Page Six explains that Kathie Lee wrote the movie after the 2015 death of husband Frank Gifford, the father of her two adult children.
According to IMDB, it's about "a lonely widow [who] plans a trip around the world with her husband's ashes, to visit the places they loved in the movies. The first stop on the journey changes her life forever."
The concept sparked more ideas and, according to Page Six, Kathie Lee has secured funding for four more movies that all focus "on the experiences of widows and empty-nesters."
Kathie Lee realized she was on to something after learning how many other women were like her. "I've become a widow, I lost my mother, and am an empty-nester, and there's millions of women in America just like me," she said, as reported by Page Six. "There's nothing in the movie world made for women of my age who are alone and often affluent. I started writing the first movie, I realized there is a huge market for it, and now I've got funding for four more."
According to Page Six, Kathie Lee plans to do more screenwriting and future projects will include Christian-based movies like Hallmark's "Godwink" franchise, in which she's starred.
Kathie Lee's "Today" family and other friends celebrated the end of her NBC run with a going-away bash in New York City on March 26. "Such a special evening surrounded by my @TodayShow and @nbc family for my farewell party," she captioned a slideshow of photos with colleagues. "Here's to 11 unforgettable years with my partner in crime (and wine), @hodakotb 💕."
Hoda also posted a few slideshows of images from "Klg's farewell party 😢" on Instagram.
Days earlier, AARP The Magazine released a cover story featuring Kathie Lee. In the piece, she talked about feeling lost and alone after the death of her husband of 29 years.
"You battle different things as you get older, especially as a widow, you battle the loneliness when you lose a spouse," she said, as reported by "Today." "It dawned on me the other day, I'm a widow, I'm an orphan, because my mother also passed, and I'm an empty nester all at the same time.
"If you're not careful, what you've lost in life can define you. It's so much better to be defined by what you still have, it's just healthier. I'm making big changes in my life because I need to, really big changes that are feeding my soul. Otherwise, despair sets in and loneliness can be crippling."
She added, "I didn't have a reason to have to stay in this big house [in Connecticut] anymore. I found myself dealing with crippling loneliness. I had to make a move to someplace physically, and I had to make emotional moves and spiritual moves. You gotta make new memories or the old ones are going to kill you."