Leeza Kim Gibbons (born March 26, 1957) is an American talk show host. Gibbons is the host of her own radio show, Leeza Live, part of the Westwood One radio syndication company.
Gibbons was born in Hartsville, South Carolina, and grew up in Irmo, South Carolina, a suburb of Columbia. She graduated from Irmo High School. She is daughter of Jean and Carlos Gibbons, who was a former state superintendent of education as well as antique shop owner. She has a brother, Carlos, Jr., and a sister, Cammy. Gibbons graduated from the University of South Carolina's school of journalism and mass communication. She is a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority.
Her past television credits include co-hosting PM Magazine, Entertainment Tonight and hosting Extra, as well as Leeza, her own NBC/syndicated talk show, which ran from January 1994 to September 2000. In the 1990s she was the co-host of John and Leeza, a talk show with former co-host of Entertainment Tonight, John Tesh. She has also guest starred on several shows, including The Geena Davis Show, The Simple Life, and The Simpsons. She played a television reporter in the Robocop films and had a small role as a reporter in Soapdish. She has also been in lifetime's what should you Do?
In 1988, she was also the host of the "Telethon" show on New Zealand's TVNZ network, which she hosted alongside Christopher Quinten, who she later married (see below). In addition to her television and radio career, Gibbons has received the Congressional Horizon Award for her work on children's issues.
On February 20, 2007, the ABC television network announced that Gibbons would be a participant in its Spring 2007 Dancing with the Stars reality show. She was eliminated from the competition on April 10th, 2007. She was the third celebrity eliminated.
(Leeza Gibbons replaced Meredith Vieira for a week of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire shows on June 23-27, 2008.)
Gibbons has been married three times. Her first was to John Hicks from 1980-82. From 1989- 91 she was married to British actor Christopher Quinten, with whom she has daughter Jordan Alexandra (Lexi) Gibbons. Her third marriage began in 1991 to Stephen Meadows. They have sons Troy and Nathan Daniel. Meadows filed for divorce in February 2005, after 14 years of marriage to Gibbons.
Gibbons is active in her non-profit organization, "Leeza's Place," an organization that educates and empowers caregivers of loved ones affected by memory disorders. Gibbons also has a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame for television.
