Kathie Lee Gifford Remembers 'Precious Friend' Regis Philbin: 'There Has Never Been Anyone Like Him'

Nick Caruso
·2 min read

Kathie Lee Gifford is paying tribute to her former daytime co-host Regis Philbin, who died Friday night of natural causes at the age of 88.

In an Instagram post on Saturday, Gifford reflected on the years of her career spent “bantering and bickering and laughing ourselves silly” with Philbin, adding that she “simply adored him and every day with him was a gift.”

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“I smile knowing somewhere in Heaven, at this very moment, he’s making someone laugh,” she continued. “I send all the love in my heart to Joy, to his children, to the rest of his family and to the innumerable people he touched over his legendary life. There has never been anyone like him. And there never will be.”

Gifford also posted a tweet honoring Philbin, which simply read, “REGIS. There will never be another.”

In 1985, Gifford joined Philbin on The Morning Show, and in 1988, she took over co-hosting duties as the New York-based talk show went into national syndication under the title Live With Regis and Kathie Lee. The pair became a daytime staple, hosting together until Gifford’s departure in 2000.

Following his Live exit in 2011, Philbin served as a recurring guest host on the daytime cooking show Rachael Ray and hosted Crowd Goes Wild, a daily sports talk show on Fox Sports. He also occasionally co-hosted Today‘s fourth hour, reuniting with Gifford in the process.

Scroll down to read Gifford’s full tribute to Philbin:

View this post on Instagram

There are no words to fully express the love I have for my precious friend, Regis. I simply adored him and every day with him was a gift. We spent 15 years together bantering and bickering and laughing ourselves silly—a tradition and a friendship we shared up to this very day. I smile knowing somewhere in Heaven, at this very moment, he’s making someone laugh. It brings me great comfort knowing that he had a personal relationship with his Lord that brought him great peace. I send all the love in my heart to Joy, to his children, to the rest of his family and to the innumerable people he touched over his legendary life. There has never been anyone like him. And there never will be.

A post shared by Kathie Lee Gifford (@kathielgifford) on Jul 25, 2020 at 2:37pm PDT

 

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