Kathie Lee Gifford said she recently had hip replacement surgery and is trying to take it slower after she “did too much” following the procedure.
The former TODAY co-host told People that her recuperation has been “one of the most painful experiences” of her life.
“I walked, I climbed, I walked, and my doctor said, ‘Kathie, no. You have got to realize that this is serious,’” she told People. “And I was off my walker in two days. I was off all my medications in three days, and then I did too much. I just did too much because that’s who I am.”
Gifford, 70, had been signing books and preparing for the July 16 release of her new religious book, “Herod and Mary: The True Story of the Tyrant King and the Mother of the Risen Savior.”
She also spent time with her grandchildren, but realized she was pushing a little too hard while recovering from the hip replacement.
“I have learned from this that you only can only do so much,” she said. “You’re just human.”
She said her hips were “down to the nubs,” and her doctors told her she needed the replacement due to an active lifestyle of exercise and traveling.
“Would I change that?” she said about her lifestyle. “No, I was doing what God put me on this earth to do. Every year of it, I was doing what he called me to do.”
The procedure is a common one. About 544,000 hip replacements are done every year, according to the American College of Rheumatology.
TODAY weatherman Al Roker had a hip replacement in 2019, missing just 12 days of work before he was back on the show.
Gifford is keeping a positive attitude as she continues her recovery and releases her new book.
“I don’t know how much time the Lord has me still on this earth, but for whatever time it is I pray that I would be useful … that I would be kind and helpful, and loving to people,” she told People.
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