Kelly Ripa and Mark Conseulos did not answer questions about the morning show host’s relationships with Regis Philbin or Michael Strahan when spotted out in New York Thursday morning.
Ripa’s new memoir, “Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories,” reveals her rocky behind-the-scenes professional relationship with Philbin.
The former “All My Children” star wrote that she was not given the same benefits as the men she was surrounded by, and claimed she had to “earn” her place at the television show. Ripa hosted the show alongside Philbin from 2001 until he retired in 2011.
Philbin passed away after suffering a heart attack in 2020.
“I don’t want to feel like I’m slamming anyone or that I’m being disrespectful,” she told People magazine about her recollection of working with Philbin. “But I also want people to know it was not a cakewalk. It took years to earn my place there and earn things that are routinely given to the men I worked with.”
The book has been met with criticism. Kathie Lee Gifford, another of Philbin’s former co-hosts, noted she believes in “freedom of expression,” but will not be reading Ripa’s book.
“I’m a big believer in freedom of expression. I don’t believe we’re supposed to cancel anybody. She has the right to tell her story as she remembers it,” Gifford exclusively told Fox News Digital.
“My experience with Regis was one of the greatest experiences of my entire life,” Gifford said. “I worked with him for 15 years. We never had one unkind word between us.”
KATHIE LEE GIFFORD SUPPORTS ‘GREAT FRIEND’ REGIS PHILBIN AMID KELLY RIPA DRAMA
Gifford appeared alongside Philbin on “Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee” beginning in 1985. She left the program in 2000.
Despite her tumultuous experience working with Philbin professionally, Ripa recalled enjoying her time with the TV show host in the real world.
“Off camera and outside of that building, it was a different thing,” according to Ripa. “The handful of times we spent together, I so enjoyed. We went to the same resort once on vacation, and he came to a dinner I hosted – one of the favorite nights of my life. I never laughed so hard.”
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Philbin is not the only co-host Ripa seemingly had issues with behind the scenes.
Michael Strahan is notably missing from her book, despite having been by her side on “Live!” for four years beginning in 2012. He abruptly left the program for a hosting gig on “Good Morning America.”
Their tumultuous relationship ended in 2016 when Strahan announced his resignation from the show. Ripa found out about Strahan’s choice to leave only minutes before the announcement aired.
He told New York Times Magazine in 2020 that he was never treated as an equal, and thought he was hired to be “a partner,” not “a sidekick.”
“When it was time to go, it was time to go. Certain things that were going on behind the scenes just caught up,” he said.
Fox News Digital’s Tracy Wright contributed to this report.
