Kelly Ripa Pauses ‘Live’ to Honor Malcolm-Jamal Warner, the Show’s First-Ever Guest

Kelly Ripa took time out of Tuesday’s episode of Live With Kelly and Mark to honor late actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner.

After news broke Monday that The Cosby Show star died the day before at the age of 54 in an accidental drowning, Ripa took time at the top of Tuesday’s show to pay tribute Live‘s first-ever interview guest.

“There’s a lot of sad news in the news, so I guess we’ll just get to it and then try to do a hard pivot afterwards,” Ripa, 54, said while hosting alongside husband Mark Consuelos. “I can’t believe this, because [producer Michael] Gelman was telling me backstage that the very first episode of this show, Malcolm-Jamal Warner was a guest on.”

The daytime show then played a short clip of Warner’s appearance on the series premiere on Sept. 5, 1998. At the time, Warner was interviewed by Regis Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford.

“He shockingly and sadly and devastatingly was caught in this surprise high current in Costa Rica and died as a complication of that,” Ripa continued her tribute. “It’s just so sad and crushing, and you don’t realize — I literally, even though I didn’t know him, grew up with this man.”

Ripa noted that while she and Warner didn’t grow up together, per se, they grew up at the same time, “only he was a big TV star and I was watching him.”

Ripa went on to praise The Cosby Show as being “so singular in its presence,” noting that she “sort of followed [Warner’s] entire career and always had a fondness for” the former child actor, who broke out in his role as Theo Huxtable, Cliff Huxtable’s son.

“I feel like a piece of all of us passed away,” Ripa noted. “It’s very, very sad.”

The Cosby Show alum were quick to mourn Warner’s passing after news broke, with Raven Symoné saying on social media, “Words cannot describe the pain and sadness and surprise I feel with the recent loss of MJW. He was the big brother. He was a beacon. He was one of the most multifaceted, talented men… so gentle.”

“My heart and soul and hugs and kisses go out to his daughter and his wife and his mother,” she continued. “He gave the best advice. He gave the best hugs. And his smile will always be a huge, bright f—king white smile in my head forever. I love you and I know you’re watching over all of us now. Bye, Malcolm.”