#CelineDion & Kathie Lee Gifford Reflect on the Deaths of Their Husbands: "I Found the Best Man in the World Like You Did"

A new day has come for Céline Dion and Kathie Lee Gifford.

The Grammy-winning songstress and morning show host have shared a common tragedy recently—the loss of their husbands. Kathie's longtime husband Frank Gifford unexpectedly died of natural causes in August 2015 a week before his 85th birthday while Celine's lifetime partner, husband René Angélil, passed away in January after a three-year battle with throat cancer. The famous women, who both managed their personal losses while in the spotlight, sought solace in each other Friday when they co-hosted the fourth hour of Today.

"You gave strength to everybody. Because you're strong, we can all be strong.

Everybody is waiting to see how you're doing, you know? To give them permission to be okay," Gifford told Dion, though she was speaking from personal experience.

"I have to tell you I feel very strong," Celine responded. "I lost the man of my life, but I cannot live thinking this way. I have to say I found the best man in the world like you did for yourself and we were both extremely lucky." A tearful Kathie Lee added, "We're all going up someday."

While death is a difficult topic for children to grasp, Dion's three sons, René-Charles and twins Nelson and Eddy, are coping by the example their strong mother has continuously set months later.

"They sense that mom is OK. They know what's going on. They know that dad is not coming back," she said during an interview on Today. "My kids are fine, so I'm fine."

However, upon René's passing, the "Power of Love" singer realized there would be greater responsibility on her shoulders as a single parent—a weight she embraced wholeheartedly.

"When he passed, I said to myself, 'If I thought last week or a year ago that I was a mother, I was wrong because today is the day and I'm going to have to prepare my children to let them know that today that they will have to live with their dad in a different way," she said on the morning program.

Though she accepted her new role immediately, the star refused to let her teenage son feel burdened by his untimely loss.

"I said to him, 'You will never have the responsibility of becoming the man of the house. This is your life. You're not your dad. You're not here to replace no one," Celine told Kathie Lee of 15-year-old René-Charles. "You deserve to have your happiness. Your dad is with you."


Read More >>>