Kathie Lee Gifford shares the Bible verse that helped comfort Ethel Kennedy following son Michael's death

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Kathie Lee Gifford revealed that she consoled Ethel Kennedy following the death of her son Michael after he died in 1997. 

Michael Kennedy was Robert F. Kennedy’s sixth child with Ethel Kenedy, out of 11. The businessman, lawyer and political activist died in a tragic skiing accident on New Year's Eve in Aspen, Colo., at age 39. In her new book, “It’s Never Too Late,” Gifford recounts how she stayed with Ethel Kennedy beside her son’s body and attempted to help her with the grieving process on that day. 

“She was grieving so deeply that she couldn't move,” Gifford, 67, told People. “She was literally paralyzed with grief.”

The former “Today” co-host’s stepdaughter, Vicki Gifford, had recently split with Michael Kennedy prior to the accident after a cheating scandal rocked their relationship. However, the Giffords were still close to the Kennedys at the time. 

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“Vicki heaved heartbroken tears,” Gifford wrote in her book, according to the outlet. 

Ethel Kennedy, at the funeral of her son Michael.  (STUART CAHILL/AFP via Getty Images)

She explained that she and her family went to the hospital where they met Ethel Kennedy, who was 69 at the time, standing outside Michael Kennedy's room after he’d already been pronounced dead. She was still wearing her skiing clothes and had an expression that Gifford described as “utter shock.” 

“‘My God,’ I thought, ‘how much can one woman take?’” she said, recalling how Ethel Kennedy's husband was assassinated near her in 1968. “I quietly walked over to her and embraced her and whispered how sorry I was. She had always been very candid that Michael was her favorite child of the 11 she had born. And now, he, too, was gone.”

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Gifford, accompanied by her late husband Frank, stayed with her for more than an hour as she stayed by her son’s body without any tears or expression on her face. Whenever anyone came to take her away, Ethel Kennedy would shake her head “adamantly.” Gifford says she looked to Frank Gifford, who was longtime friends with Ethel Kennedy, to figure out what to do. He knew, however, that she just needed to ride out whatever emotional journey she was on at the time. 

The star says that she prayed silently before whispering a Bible verse to Ethel Kennedy that seemed to help. 

Kathie Lee Gifford explained how she helped comfort Ethel Kennedy following the death of her son, Michael.  (Paul Archuleta/Getty Images)

“To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord," she said.

With that, Frank Gifford asked her to leave the room while he waited for Ethel Kennedy to be done. To this day, Gifford credits the words from the Bible for helping Ethel Kennedy get through that moment. 

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“Ethel is someone who's had religion her whole life,” she told People. “And so [God had] been a huge part of her life, but she'd never heard the scripture before that I shared with her in the book ... It changed her life."

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She concluded: "The word of God has power. It is the power of all life is in the word and the words. And that's what broke through the darkness for her — the light of the truth of God's word."