Kelly Ripa Reveals Her Most Mortifying Celebrity Interview

Kelly Ripa has been interviewing celebrities for 20 years, but even she makes the occasional mistake. She revealed on Watch What Happens Live that there is one particular gaffe that haunts her to this day, and it involves Oscar nominee Glenn Close and a misread cue card. “The reason I have glasses is because, and it goes back some time, Glenn Close was on the show, and I asked her how long she had been the mayor of Connecticut,” Ripa explained. “I misread a cue card, cause I couldn’t see it.”

Understandably, the Hillbilly Elegy star was deeply confused. “And she looked at me and said, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’” Ripa continued. “And I said, ‘I don’t know, I know you’re not the mayor of Connecticut, but I can’t see what the card says.’” Watch What Happens Live host Andy Cohen called the story “amazing,” and Ripa’s Live! co-star Ryan Seacrest said that the misunderstanding was actually “such a great moment.”

Ripa got candid with Variety about the difficulties that daytime television has faced in the time of pandemic precautions and social distancing. While the at-home tapings made some aspects more difficult, Ripa is pleased with the results. “People really loved it because they felt it was intimate,” Ripa said. “Once in a while, I’d tilt the computer and you’d see Mark [Consuelos, her husband] sleeping in bed. It was a very exciting way of doing business.”

Part of Ripa’s charm is “my overall willingness to let all my foibles unfold and put all of my imperfections out there,” she explained, and that adds to her universal appeal to viewers and the longevity of her career. “It’s hard not to become cynical; I try not to. Sometimes it’s that scene from The Godfather Part III — ‘just when I think I’m not cynical, they pull me back in,’” Ripa explained to Variety. “What am I going to complain about? They didn’t buy my series? I try to stay the course. What I lack in actual talent, I make up for in work ethic and in extreme capabilities in multitasking. I’m able to always be working while looking like I’m not doing much of anything.”