Hoda Kotb Says Former ‘Today’ Co-Host Kathie Lee Gifford Dropped “Huge Grenade” About Her Divorce Live On Air

Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford were a dynamic duo on daytime TV for years, but even the closest of co-hosts have their hiccups. Kotb revealed on Tuesday’s episode of Watch What Happens Live that Gifford betrayed her trust live on The Today Show when she mentioned her divorce unprompted.

When asked by a WWHL fan if any of her Today co-hosts have shared stories about her on air she she “really wished” they had not, Kotb spilled all of the details about Gifford’s slip-up.

“Kath did it, she threw one huge grenade once,” Kotb said, as host Andy Cohen raptly listened. “I was telling her that I was married once before and I met my husband on Valentine’s Day and I got the divorce papers on Valentine’s Day, and it was Valentine’s Day.”

Kotb — who was married to Burzis Kanga from 2005 to 2008 — had told Gifford in the makeup room that she wasn’t a fan of the holiday because of her painful past, but she expected her admission to stay offstage and away from the studio. Unfortunately for her, that wasn’t the case.

“We go out to the set. It’s all decorated with flowers and hearts, and I go, ‘Good morning! Happy Valentine’s Day!’ And she looks at me and she goes, ‘Not for you!’” Kotb said.

“I go, ‘What are you doing?’ But I remember that grenade fell right on the table. I didn’t know what to do,” Kotb remembered. “I was so new, I didn’t know what to say. And I said to her, ‘That was makeup room talk. That wasn’t for out here, because we’re happy out here.’”

Watch What Happens Live airs Sunday through Thursday at 10/9c on Bravo. Watch the full segment with Kotb and her co-host, Jenna Bush Hager, in the video above.