Frank Gifford vs. Kathie Lee Gifford: What five grandkids reveal
Kathie Lee Gifford has drawn a clear line between what her family inherited from frank gifford and what they were taught to practice day to day. In recent conversations tied to her book Nero & Paul: How the Gospel of Grace Defeated the Ruler of Rome, she highlighted physical and athletic traits she links to Frank Gifford, while also describing manners and kindness as learned behaviors she now sees amplified in her five grandchildren.
Frank Gifford in the family picture: inherited traits named on March 9
On Monday, March 9, Kathie Lee Gifford, 72, sat down with Hoda Kotb, 61, during an episode of Today to discuss her new book Nero & Paul: How the Gospel of Grace Defeated the Ruler of Rome. During that conversation, she turned to her grandchildren and singled out what she framed as unmistakable markers from her late husband.
“They all have Frank’s cleft chin, ” she said, adding, “And they’re all absolutely athletic. ” In her telling, the comparison is not abstract: it runs across all five grandchildren, linking them back to a specific feature and a shared capability she associates with Frank Gifford.
The family details she offered make the point concrete. Kathie Lee Gifford and Frank Gifford had two children, Cassidy, 32, and Cody, 35. Cassidy and her husband Ben Wierda are parents of daughter Rosie, 9 months, and son Finn, 2. Cody and his wife Erika are parents of daughter Faith, born in September 2025, and sons Ford, 2, and Frank, 3. Across that spread of ages, she presented the cleft chin and athleticism as a through-line, not an exception.
Kathie Lee Gifford’s emphasis: manners and kindness as practiced traits
If the cleft chin and athleticism represent what the grandchildren “got” from Frank Gifford, Kathie Lee Gifford described something else as deliberately passed down and reinforced: strong manners and kindness. She said she cherishes watching Cassidy and Cody raise their kids that way, and she described her role as a grandmother as one of her life’s greatest blessings.
Her most specific example came from a separate conversation on Wednesday, Jan. 21, during an episode of Making Space with Hoda Kotb. Recalling a recent lunch, she described how Cody’s son Frankie, 3½, and Ford, who had just turned 2, interacted with the waitstaff. She said “all the waitstaff comes by, ” and the children put their hands out to greet people and say, “Nice to meet you!”
When Kotb noted that the manners were something she remembered from Gifford’s own children, Kathie Lee Gifford said her grandchildren have now gone “beyond that. ” She described them as making eye contact and wishing people well, offering those details as evidence that what began as a household expectation has matured into a broader habit of kindness.
frank gifford vs. Kathie Lee Gifford: what the contrast shows
Placed side by side, the two sets of traits Kathie Lee Gifford spotlighted work almost like a family case study: what she characterizes as inherited versus what she frames as instilled. On one side are the traits she explicitly tied to Frank Gifford: a cleft chin and being “absolutely athletic. ” On the other side is the behavior she credits to ongoing family culture: manners that include handshakes, eye contact, and wishing people well.
| Trait or behavior | How Kathie Lee Gifford framed it | Where it shows up in her examples |
|---|---|---|
| Cleft chin | Inherited from Frank Gifford | Shared by all five grandchildren |
| Athleticism | Inherited from Frank Gifford | Also applied to all five grandchildren |
| Strong manners and kindness | Practiced and taught within the family | How Cassidy and Cody raise their kids |
| Handshake greetings | Practiced and taught within the family | Frankie (3½) and Ford (just turned 2) at lunch |
| Eye contact and wishing people well | Developed beyond basic manners | Described as the grandkids going “beyond that” |
Analysis: The contrast suggests Kathie Lee Gifford is using her grandchildren to keep two narratives in focus at once: a tangible connection to Frank Gifford through shared features and athleticism, and a living legacy she measures through everyday conduct. She underscored that second piece when she said that watching her children become “amazing parents” has become “one of the most joyful things” in her life, adding, “If Frank and I did anything right, it would be that. ”
The comparison also clarifies the kind of “purpose” she attaches to grandparenting. In July 2024, she described being grateful for her grandsons and said they “give me a purpose to get up every morning when everything else is just not the same for me. ” She added that life is “so different” and she tries to find joy where she can, saying she finds it “in the Word of God and in my grandsons. ”
The finding from placing frank gifford alongside Kathie Lee Gifford’s focus is straightforward: her public reflections do not treat family legacy as a single category. Instead, she separates what she sees as inherited markers of Frank Gifford from the behavior she says her children are actively reinforcing with their own kids. The next confirmed test of that framing will come the next time she discusses her new book Nero & Paul: How the Gospel of Grace Defeated the Ruler of Rome and again pivots to her grandchildren. If she maintains the same split between “got from Frank” traits and practiced kindness, the comparison suggests she is defining legacy as both physical resemblance and daily character.
