When she isn’t spending her mornings cracking laughs and hosting The Today Show’s “late show” with Hoda Kotb, Kathie Lee Gifford can be found supporting her kids.
Like most moms, the Today Show host is beyond proud of her kids, 24-year-old Cassidy and 27-year-old Cody.
Still, it’s the one thing she’ll never tell them.
Cassidy Gifford
“We don’t say ‘proud’ in our family, we never have,” Kathie Lee says.
She recalls a time when her son, Cody, came home from his first semester at USC film school with straight A’s. The family was excited about Cody’s achievement, but Kathie Lee refrained from building him up too much.
“Cassidy was still home and she said, ‘Mom, why aren’t you saying something? Aren’t you proud of him?’ And I remember saying, ‘Cass, pride comes before the fall. A good book says that.’”
Cassidy prompted her mom to come up with a “God word” for “proud.”
After thinking about it for a while, the 63-year-old television personality came up with the word “groud,” meaning “grateful to God for every good thing that’s happening in your life, but totally aware that you could screw it up at any moment because you’re just human.”
Kathie Lee’s bold parenting move is a perspective-changer to say the least. Her kids have grown up to be “great human beings,” and one thing we’re certain of is that they aren’t prideful in their pursuit.