Why Kathie Lee Gifford Won't Take Her Love Life Public: 'By Not Talking About It, It Stays Special'

After decades in the public eye, Kathie Lee Gifford is very consciously keeping private matter private these days.

As part of Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee from 1988 to 2000, Gifford happily spent years chatting with co-host Regis Philbin about her family life — even spilling day-to-day details from her decades-long marriage to NFL vet Frank Gifford, who died in 2015 at age 84 — but now she has vowed not to discuss her love life publicly.

"I have someone very special in my life," the TODAY show alum tells PEOPLE. However, she adds, "I've discovered that by not talking about it, it stays special."

Gifford, 69, has stepped out of the spotlight for a more relaxed way of living in Nashville. There, she spends her time connecting with family — including her grandchildren.

"I've found personal happiness here, is the best way to say it," she shares.

Gifford isn't the only one in her family to find joy in partnership. While speaking of her kids with Frank, the singer and director gushed, "I'm just so grateful that my children married in deep love for their life partner."

Daughter Cassidy, 29, who married childhood sweetheart Ben Wierda last November, is "so happy," she gushed. "[They] have been best friends since they were 11 and 14."

As for her 32-year-old son, "Cody and [his wife] Erica are just so right for each other."

She continued, "So it's just right. and I'm friends with both families. It's a beautiful, beautiful season."

For Gifford, her and her family's happiness will always come back to faith.

"God is the God of family and the God of marriage and the God of relationships, and when we put him first in them, it's miraculous the blessings that flow," she says.

In that spirit, her busy life after her so-called "retirement" from daytime TV in 2019 has increasingly been a celebration of her faith. That same year, she made her directorial debut with the short The God Who Sees.

"And it just felt like, okay, now I understand. This is what I've been learning how to do my whole life, and here I am," she recalls.

Next up, she's "grateful" to be able to share the new book The God of the Way, co-written by Rabbi Jason Sobel, with fans. The book's release will be followed later this week by a new film called The Way that features "moving stories from the Bible brought to life" with narration by Gifford.

"It's a beautiful season of new beginnings for me," she tells PEOPLE, "and I wish more people as they age felt that way about the process — that God is not finished with them. As long as we have a pulse, we have purpose."

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The God of the Way is available where books are sold on Tuesday, and The Way arrives in theaters on Thursday.