Leeza Gibbons Reveals the Real Reason She Left Hollywood — Why at 67, the Former TV Host Is Embracing Her 'Third Act' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Leeza Gibbons.Photo:Courtesy of Leeza Gibbons

Courtesy of Leeza Gibbons

For 30 years, Rose Bowl co-hostLeeza Gibbons,67, had a near-constant presence on network television.

From 1984 to 2000, she was a correspondent and co-host ofEntertainment Tonight,and the host of her popular daytime talk showLeeza,which ran between 1993 and 2000. At the same time, she became one of the first celebrities to have great success doing infomercials with Guthy-Renker.

But in 2002, the South Carolina native decided to lean into her new passion: helping Alzheimer’s patient caregivers find the resources they need and, most importantly, connect with other caregivers through her nonprofit,Leeza’s Care Connection.

The cause hit close to home after both Gibbons’mother and grandmotherdied from the disease — and she vowed to make her beloved mom Gloria Jean Gibbons' story “count.”

She adds of this path: “It’s the most fun. It’s the most creative; it’s the most dynamic. The only thing that really lasts is how we care for each other. And this puts me in touch with that on a daily basis.”

Leeza Gibbons (left) with her mother Jean (center).Courtesy of Leeza Gibbons

Leeza Gibbons onThe Talkin May 2016.Sonja Flemming/CBS via Getty

Sonja Flemming/CBS via Getty

“No one has loved their career more than I’ve loved mine. It has been such a fun ride, and I’ve loved every aspect of it,” she reflects. “But I deliberately changed the pace of it when I stepped into what I see as my real calling, which was my nonprofit.”

Gibbons, who has three children with two former partners, and has beenmarried to talent manager and author Steven Fentonsince 2011, says she’s fully embraced her “third act” in life.

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Leeza Gibbons and her late mother Jean.Courtesy of Leeza Gibbons

She adds, “I think life comes in three stages. Stage one, you are growing and learning. Stage two, the middle of your life, you’re acquiring and achieving. And then you get to stage three, where I am now, where you get to celebrate and reflect — and start receiving.”

She jokes that she knows how positively positive she sounds.

“My kids always accuse me of being a ‘Pollyanna’ in that I am truly fiercely optimistic,” she says, laughing. “But I think you start out being happy, then there’s some dips along the way, and as you get older, you climb back up that happiness curve. And that’s when you find peace.”

Leeza Gibbons.Courtesy of Leeza Gibbons

She’s the proud ambassador for Crepe Erase forGuthy-Renker(for decades, her infomercial work with the company has netted north of a billion dollars in sales), but says her true focus is on what’s within.

“I don’t look at people and think, ‘How old are you? I think, ‘How many lives have you lived?'” she says.

source: people.com