They thought she was no angel.
Kathie Lee Gifford, 70, revealed that casting agents had some scathing remarks about her appearance early in her career.
In an interview with People published Thursday, the former “Today” host said she was told she wasn’t pretty enough to star in the TV series “Charlie’s Angels,” which aired for five seasons on ABC from 1976 to 1981.
“She goes, ‘Let me tell you right now, you’re not right for Charlie’s Angels,’” Gifford recalled about her meeting with the casting agent.
When Gifford asked why, the agent replied, “Because we’re looking for a pretty girl. You know, like Jaclyn Smith pretty, gorgeous, gorgeous,’” Gifford claimed the agent said.
Gifford said that hearing that “was like kicking me to the gut.”
She added, “ I started to think it was funny. I really did. And as I’m walking out, I looked at her and I said, ‘Okay, well, thank you so much.’”
“I said, ‘When you’re casting a cartoon,’ and I threw up my leg. ‘When you’re casting a cartoon, let me know. I left thanking God that I could laugh about it.”
Regarding the agent, Gifford said, “I started to see, first of all, what a bitch she was. What an unnecessary bitch. She didn’t say ‘Sorry, honey, have a nice life. You’re not what we’re looking for.’ She had to be cruel. She had to be the exact opposite of what my dad taught me to be. The fact that I remember her name to this day is because she was so cruel.”
“Charlie’s Angels” followed three women at a private detective agency. It starred Jackson, Smith, and Farrah Fawcett, with replacements through the years including Cheryl Ladd, Shelley Hack and Tanya Roberts.
A 2000 “Charlie’s Angels” movie starred Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu, and Drew Barrymore, while a 2019 reboot film starred Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinska. There was also a swiftly canceled 2011 TV reboot starring Minka Kelly, Annie Ilonzeh, and Rachael May Taylor.
Gifford also recently spoke about ending her decades-long feud with Howard Stern, telling Fox News Digital that “it was a surprise” when she received a voicemail from the disc jockey.
“Once I listened to it, I said to my kids at the table, ‘Well, pigs have now officially flown.’ [But] I just always believe God can touch anybody’s heart,” she said.
“I’m not allowed to hate anybody that hates me. Once you start praying for people, you can’t hate them. Love cannot live where hate does, and it’s a very simple thing.”
She went on to say that in Stern’s voicemail, he said, “a lot of F-words, but he was saying, ‘I can’t believe how nice you were to me. I’ve been so rude to you and you were so nice. I just need to apologize to you…Will you forgive me, Kathie, please? I’m doing hard work on my life. I know I hurt you. I’m so sorry and I need to ask you to forgive me.”
