Kathie Lee Gifford is rumored to be joining “The Today Show” for a hosting stint for its fourth hour. The perky 54 year-old host with a diva reputation left the then “Live with Regis & Kathie Lee” show after 15 years in July 2000 and has been concentrating on her singing career and doing charity work. Since leaving “Live,” she’s done occasional TV and guest appearances, and worked as a correspondent for “The Insider” in 2005.

It’s pretty obvious that Kathie Lee has had more than a few visits to her plastic surgeon’s office. Her face looks way too smooth and pulled and she’s starting to look like Priscilla Presley. Kathie Lee lives in New York so she probably wasn’t a victim of that Argentinian quack who was injecting Hollywood’s elite with car fluid, but she must be going to someone who’s willing to do excessive work on her.

There is an alternative to the two extremes of too much plastic surgery and aging naturally. My mother had a face lift about five years ago and she let it settle. At first it was obvious but within a few months it looked natural on her and it’s not as easy to tell. She looks better than she did before and it’s not glaringly obvious that she’s had work done.

It looks to me like Gifford had more than one face lift along with ongoing maintenance that results in a mask-like effect on her face.

I had trouble finding any photos of Kathie Lee “before,” because she looked about the same and must have had a face lift years ago. In the 2003 image in the header above, you can tell she’s had something done but she doesn’t look freaky.

In a 2000 interview with Larry King, Kathie Lee didn’t exactly deny having plastic surgery, but said she wasn’t going to get “more” and skirted around the issue by saying she was afraid of it. It seems like she got over that quickly.

KING: The story was that you wanted to [get plastic surgery] and [your husband Frank] didn’t want you to.

GIFFORD: But I wanted more. Last year, it was that I was leaving the show or something like that because I was going to have a million dollars worth of plastic surgery. Now, that hurt, you know. Do I need a million dollars worth?

KING: So you’ve never had and you don’t intend to have it.

GIFFORD: I don’t intend to do it.

KING: But you would have if you felt you needed to?

GIFFORD: You know what, yes, I probably would. You know what, just to feel — I probably would. But I haven’t done, you know, anything that I’m ashamed of, and I’m certainly not going to be ashamed of it if I have it down.

[CNN transcript via Awful Plastic Surgery]

Kathie Lee Gifford is shown in January and February of this year, thanks to PRPhotos. Thanks to The National Enquirer for the idea for this story as they covered this in their recent issue.