Kelly Ripa is quite possibly the perkiest person on the planet.
The all-American daytime staple went from soap opera star on All My Children to hostess
with the mostess on Live.
But for all of her adorable quips and toothy grins, Ripa's true disposition may be a lot
less sunny than her image on TV.
Sensitive issues
On November 17, 2006, Clay Aiken guest-hosted Live With Regis & Kelly.
During a segment, he put his hand over Ripa's mouth to interject and ask a question of their
guests.
That gesture rubbed Ripa the wrong way.
"Oh, that's a no-no."
"I don't know where that hand's been, honey!"
Three days later, when Regis Philbin returned, Ripa was still stewing.
"I missed the heck out of you on Friday…
"Why, what happened?"
"I just missed you, that's all!"
"Well, who'd you have for a co-host?"
"Oh, I had Clay Aiken."
Philbin then asked Ripa if there was a "miscommunication" between her and the American Idol finalist.
Ripa denied anything of the sort.
"You don't put your hands over somebody's face and mouth when they're conducting an
interview, even if it's for a laugh."
But that wasn't the only heat to come off of Aiken's guest appearance.
Politically incorrect
After Ripa tore into Aiken — who had not yet come out as homosexual at the time — fellow
talk show personality Rosie O'Donnell called her and her "I don't know where that hand's
been" comment out on The View.
"To me that's a homophobic remark.
If that was a straight man, if that was a cute man, if that was a guy that she didn't
question his sexuality, she would have said a different thing."
Ripa called into the show, immediately.
"I think what you said was downright outrageous."
"I am the only talk show host, I believe, who's ever interviewed him who didn't question
his sexuality."
But O'Donnell wasn't having it.
"I'm saying, as the view of a gay woman, this is how it came off to me."
"I feel for the kid.
He's in a very difficult space."
Beef with Regis
In February 2017, Regis Philbin revealed that he and Ripa no longer speak, dishing it all
to Larry King.
"She got very offended when I left.
She thought I was leaving because of her.
I was leaving because I was getting older and it wasn't right for me anymore."
Philbin told The Insider, "I left, and I think she resented that, and I'm sorry, because
I wasn't trying to retire from her.
I was a little tired, you know?
And I was just turning 80."
And Regis wouldn't be the last to be shaded by his co-host.
Ripa vs Strahan
When Michael Strahan announced his own exit from Live in April 2016, Ripa reportedly felt
blindsided by the former NFL star's move to Good Morning America, and was very public
about her hard feelings, calling out of work as the drama unfolded.
One of Ripa's most vocal critics during Strahan's messy exit was actually her former pal, shock
jock Howard Stern, who slammed her hiatus from Live, saying, "There wasn't one day when
I was being f---ed with, that I didn't show up for work...We've all been humiliated and
we don't make $20 million."
But it wasn't just her public disdain for Strahan that did the damage.
Ripa reportedly wasn't nice to him behind closed doors while he was co-hosting with
her, either.
Once he departed, Strahan told People, "I wasn't surprised by her reaction at all, but
I can't control somebody else's actions.
I was there four years, and it's about more than just being in front of the camera…At
one point I think we were friends...Toward the end of it all, we didn't really communicate
that much."
An insider told Page Six, "[Ripa and Strahan] did not get along.
It was all for the show.
They could not stand each other, and whenever they communicated off-camera, it was always
through their reps."
Not here to make friends
Ripa may have a pattern of viewing anyone choosing not to work with her as a "betrayal."
Aside from her beefs with Strahan and Philbin, OK!
Magazine reported that Ripa was also furious with Megyn Kelly, who had co-hosted with Ripa
on Live! in the past.
Why?
Because Kelly allegedly had the nerve to go off and get her own show on NBC.
The source said, "[Ripa] is sick of being used.
First Michael Strahan sneaks off to Good Morning America behind her back and now Megyn Kelly
is sneaking off to do a show opposite hers.
There is literally only so much betrayal that [Ripa] can take and now she is fighting back."
Seacrest out?
Ripa is reportedly being very careful with new co-host Seacrest to avoid any added drama,
but rumor has it they're already not getting along too well, in part because of Seacrest's
hosting gig for the American Idol reboot in Los Angeles.
An insider told Life & Style, "She didn't know about the American Idol revival.
When she found out she was truly rattled…
She feels stabbed in the back and believes she's going to lose Ryan just like she lost
Michael.
Kelly is truly pissed that, after all the time ABC spent negotiating with Ryan for Live,
they would then buy the show that made him a household name and take him away.
[She] really thought Live would be Ryan's focus."
Another source told Radar Online that Seacrest was far from her first choice: "[Ripa] preferred
someone less well-known.
She wanted someone that she could boss around, and that isn't Ryan."
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