Kathie Lee Gifford Says Past Feud with Howard Stern Ended with a 'Surprise' Voicemail of Him Asking for Forgiveness

"I can find something good in anybody. That's what my faith teaches me," Gifford said

Kathie Lee Gifford is revealing how she quashed her beef with Howard Stern.

In her new memoir, I Want to Matter: Your Life Is Too Short and Too Precious to Waste, Gifford, 70, shared why she decided to show grace to the 70-year-old shock jock 16 years after their feud began.

According to the book, per Fox News Digital, the rift started in 1995 when Gifford was chosen to sing the National Anthem at Super Bowl XXIX. The former Today show anchor recalled hearing boos in the audience, which she later learned was spurred by Stern requesting his fans jeer at her introduction.

Related: Jerry Seinfeld Issues Apology After Inadvertently 'Insulting' Howard Stern: 'I'm Sorry'

In 2011, when Stern appeared on the Today show to announce he would be a judge on America’s Got Talent for season 7, Gifford said that God compelled her to approach Stern to wish him well. Despite the hairstylists and makeup artists being instructed to keep her away from the radio host, she decided to “say hello to Howard.”

“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,” the singer recounted to the outlet. “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.'"

While boarding a flight, she received a call with no caller ID. When she listened to the voicemail left by the caller, it was a “surprise” to hear Stern’s voice.

“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,'” the former Live! host said.

Although her husband Frank Gifford and son Cody Gifford didn’t want her to take the call because Stern was “horrible” to her and her family, she picked up the phone. In their conversation, the Sirius XM radio host asked her to forgive him, to which she told him, “I just want you to know that I forgave you 30 years ago.”

“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 continued to recall. “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.'”

Related: Howard Stern Brushes Off Jerry Seinfeld's 'Insulting' Comments, Says He 'Accepted' His Apology: 'No Big Deal'

After their reconciliation, the Daytime Emmy winner invited Stern — who she called an “odd duck” — to her home for dinner. Gifford wrote in her memoir that the radio personality said she “pissed him off” because she was “everything he wasn’t.”

“I saw him a couple of times over at Sirius, and we were fine. I can get along with a rock,” the It’s Never Too Late author said. “I can find something good in anybody. That’s what my faith teaches me.”

PEOPLE has reached out to Stern's reps for comment.

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The theme of forgiveness is woven throughout Gifford’s new book. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight in April, the TV presenter discussed her late husband Frank’s “very painful” infidelity during their marriage. The former New York Giants athlete’s affair had an extramarital affair with former flight attendant Suzen Johnson, which was exposed by a tabloid.

“I could have let the seed germinate but I don't want to be that person, that bitter, angry, unhappy, miserable human being 'cause you know what you end up doing?” she told ET in an extended conversation on the outlet’s website. “You end up making everybody around you every bit as miserable.”

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