Kathie Lee Gifford 'Surprised' Howard Stern Called Her to Apologize for Decades-Long Feud: 'Pigs Have Now Officially Flown'

Kathie Lee Gifford and Howard Stern seem to have squashed their beef.

The former daytime diva, 70, revealed she got an interesting phone call from the shock jock, also 70, apologizing for their decades-long feud.

"It was a surprise to get a voicemail from Howard Stern," she began about the power of forgiveness. "Once I listened to it, I said to my kids at the table, 'Well, pigs have now officially flown.' I just always believe God can touch anybody’s heart. 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."

The A-listers' public battle began in 1995 when Stern asked his listeners to boo Gifford as she sang the national anthem at Super Bowl XXIX. The Today alum claimed in her book I Want to Matter: Your Life Is Too Short and Too Precious to Waste that she had a "completely surreal" experience hearing people heckle her as she belted out the patriotic tune.

Years later, the Annie star confronted the radio personality during one of his appearances on the NBC morning series while he was promoting a new project. "The Lord… said, ‘Kathie, go down and say hello to him, and wish him well with the show,’" Gifford recalled.

"And I said, ‘OK Lord.’ I got up out of my hair and makeup [room]. Those girls had been told, ‘Don’t let Kathie go anywhere near the studio.’… I couldn't care less. I go downstairs. They go, ‘Where are you going?’ I said, ‘I’m going to go say hello to Howard,'" she explained.

"He’s very, very tall, and I was in my little flats coming in from Connecticut," the television star continued of the encounter. "There were so many people that day because he brings quite the entourage. I said, ‘Hey, it’s Kathie Lee.’ I thought it was about time. I said, 'I want to wish you all the best with the new show.’ I got up, went back, sat down in the makeup room. They’d said, ‘Why’d you do that?’ I said, ‘God told me to.’"

After the brief meeting, Gifford saw that she'd missed a call from an unknown caller who ended up being Stern. "He left a voicemail, and he says...I can’t even use the language that he used," said Gifford. "It was 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. Please call me.’"

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When Gifford returned the call, she gave him a piece of her mind. "I said, 'I’m really happy for you that you’re asking for forgiveness, because anytime we hurt somebody in life, it’s important to ask for forgiveness,’" she said. "'But I just want you to know that I forgave you 30 years ago.' He goes, ‘What?’ I said, ‘I forgave you 30 years ago, and I’ve been praying for you every day since. And it’s the truth. He goes, ‘Oh my God.’ I said, ‘Would you like to come to dinner sometime?’ He goes, ‘You’d have me at your house?’ I said, ‘Of course.’"

Fox News Digital conducted the interview with Gifford.