Kathie Lee Gifford Says Regis Philbin Was Suffering From Depression Before His Death

Kathie Lee Gifford is opening up a bit more about her lifelong friendship with Regis Philbin and about his final days.

Speaking on The Talk, the 66-year-old host and actress shared that it appeared to her that Regis was suffering from a form of “depression” because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“He had been depressed in the weeks and months earlier, because of [COVID-19],” she said. “Regis couldn’t perform anywhere, nobody was out and about. He couldn’t be Regis for people, and it broke his heart.”

She added that his wife Joy had told her that “one of his dearest friends had just recently died of COVID, so he was pretty much in a depression…Regis just lived to make people happy. He certainly made me happy for the 35 years that we were great friends.”

“Later after he passed, two weeks later, Joy told me that that was the last time she heard him laugh, was when he was at my house,” Kathie said. “So, that was a sweet gift from God to me that he blessed that friendship even at the very end. There was nobody like him ever, and there will never be another like him, ever.”

Just days after his passing, Kathie opened up about one of the final times she saw Regis. Here’s what she said…