Kathie Lee Gifford Shares She "Wanted to Die" After Multiple Surgeries

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Kathie Lee Gifford is looking back at a difficult chapter.

The former Kathie Lee and Hoda cohost shares insight into the "debilitating" pain she experienced while recovering from surgeries for various ailments, including a total hip replacement, a broken arm, a broken pelvis and cataracts.

"I feel like Mr. Potato Head," Gifford told People in an interview published June 30. "One thing falls off and then another. But you have to have a sense of humor about everything. Thank God I've never lost that, even in my bleakest moments."

However, the 72-year-old—who shared that she'd required hip surgery after playing with her grandkids—said that the multiple recovery periods took a toll on her mental health.

"I couldn't carry them, I couldn't love on them, I couldn't run and play with them," she said of her five grandchildren. "All I could do was sit there and sing and write silly songs with them."

Gifford admitted that she ultimately began withdrawing from the public amid her health problems.

"I don't want to disappoint people," she emphasized. "When you're in pain, it's so debilitating, and everything's a grimace. I've had emotional pain many times in my life, but never this chronic physical pain where you literally want to go home to Jesus."

"I wanted to die a few times," she shared. "I wasn't going to hurt myself. I wasn't going to kill myself. I just didn't want to be here—as blessed as I am."

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During her challenging moments, Gifford—who shares kids Cody Gifford, 36, and Cassidy Gifford, 32, with late husband Frank Gifford—thought she might find relief in the afterlife.

However, as Gifford continues to recover, she's felt more optimistic about the future with her grandkids than ever. As she put it, "I'm hoping, Lord willing, that I have many, many years with them."

For more celebs who've shared insight into their health journeys, keep reading.

If you or someone you know needs help, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.