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Kathie Lee Gifford Jokes About Dating at 67: 'I'm Just Looking for a Guy That's Got Real Teeth'

It's been five years since Kathie Lee Gifford said goodbye to her late husband Frank, and now, the TV host and actress is channeling her pain to tell the story of a widow's loss.

"Loss is loss. Everybody's details are different, but the power of it is the same. It's real," Kathie Lee, 67, said in a new interview with Extra TV. "The deeper you love somebody, the greater your pain you're going to feel when you lose them."

In her new rom-com movie, Then Came You, Kathie Lee plays Annabelle, a lonely widow who plans a trip around the world with her husband's ashes. During her first stop in Scotland, she meets an innkeeper, played by Craig Ferguson, who changes her life forever. While she and Annabelle both went through the grief of losing their husbands, the former Today show host said the role wasn't autobiographical.

"I had been a widow for about two years when Frank passed and Annabelle, my character, is only been a widow for one year. I saw Frank's passing coming, but Annabelle didn't," Kathie Lee said. "The only way that I'm similar to her at all in this movie — it's not autobiographical at all — is that she's a widow, I'm a widow, that's it."

In August 2015, Frank — a sports commentator and former New York Giants running back — died at age 84. At the time of his death, Frank and Kathie Lee, who share daughter Cassidy, 27, and son Cody, 30, had been married for 29 years.

Kathie Lee has opened up her heart again to the possibility of meeting someone new. But while she's gone on a few dates, she hasn't met her special someone quite yet.

"Oh, I got some gams. That's about all I've got left," she said about her legs, laughing. "I still have my teeth, but I'm just looking for a guy that's got real teeth. That's it."

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"I have dated a little bit," said Kathie Lee, who added with a laugh: "It's not been successful."

Kathie Lee, who now lives in Nashville following her exit from the Today show in April 2019, said earlier this year that she is prepared to find love again.

“Of course I’m open [to dating]!” she told Entertainment Tonight in January. “Who says I’m not dating somebody?”

But even if she does meet her match, Kathie Lee said she would be hesitant to talk about her romantic life in the public. “It could be over by tomorrow,” she quipped, adding that she’s “picky” when it comes to men.

“I don’t expect any man to ever fill my husband’s cleats, nobody will ever be Frank Gifford,” she said. “I’m not looking for that. I’m not looking for anything. If he comes along, I’ll know. I’m not looking, I’m busy.”

During a November 2019 appearance on Today with Hoda & Jenna, Kathie Lee revealed that she had gone "out on a couple of dates."

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“I just went out with friends to a club to hear my favorite band down there. This sweet guy asked me to dance and I said okay. It was fun because I hadn’t been on a date in 33 years. It’s surreal. The world has changed so much. He was a gentleman. It was fine, it was fun," she said.

For now, Kathie Lee is happily celebrating the recent nuptials of her two children. In June, daughter Cassidy tied the knot with Ben Wierda. And over Labor Day weekend, son Cody and his longtime love Erika Brown said "I do."

"They're just beautiful human beings," Kathie Lee told Entertainment Tonight about her children's life partners, "and to see your children happy like that — I know Frank's smiling each day ... we just sensed their dad just smiling."

Then Came You will debut in theaters for one night on Sept. 30 and will be available to watch on-demand starting Oct. 2.