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Kathie Lee Gifford moved to Tennessee from her Connecticut home as she 'was dying of loneliness' there after her husband died

Kathie added that ever since she moved from her family house, she has enjoyed her time in Music City.

About four years after the death of her husband Frank Gifford and two years after the death of her mother, Joan Cuttell, Kathie Lee Gifford moved to Franklin, Tennessee, a community near Nashville, earlier this year, from her Connecticut home, because she "was dying of loneliness." 

"I moved here because I was dying of loneliness," the 66-year-old TV personality told the Nashville Tennessean on Friday.

During her appearance on the 'Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee' and the 'Today' show, Kathie said that she felt it was the right time to move out of the family mansion after Frank's death at 84 in August of 2015 and her adult kids Cassidy, 26, and Cody, 29, moving out. 

"That huge beautiful memory-filled home was like a morgue to me," she said. 

She added that the losses devastated her life but also brought with them some silver linings. "Here's the bad news - I'm a widow, an orphan, and an empty-nester. The good news is, I have the freedom of a widow, an orphan and an empty-nester," she said. "I've got all the time to spend my days writing. I'm having the life I could've only ever dreamed of."

And she has been keeping busy. She composed four spiritual songs about Frank, produced a couple of Hallmark Channel movies as well as a romantic comedy, and wrote a kids' book titled 'The Gift I Can Give and Love Me to Death.' 

Kathie added that ever since she moved from her family house, she has enjoyed her time in Music City. "There's a different culture down there," she said. "It's a culture of kindness in Nashville. They are authentically kind. They are joyful, they have so much fun. I wake up and there are church bells ringing all around me. It's just a different attitude."

She also added that she was not going to sing because in 2004 she suffered a case of double pneumonia that impacted her breathing ability. "I've done that for 40 years," she said. "No more concerts. I don't have the breath control. I've really moved on."