Ryan Seacrest Fights Back Tears as He Gushes Over Kelly Ripa and 'Live'

Ryan Seacrest couldn't help but get emotional as he and Kelly Ripa discussed their years working side by side on Live With Kelly and Ryan. In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, Ripa had nothing but kind words for her friend and co-host as she discussed their relationship, praising his authenticity and positive attitude.

"Working with your friends is a great privilege. It is a joy, and I have to say that it is a rare thing to work with a guy who is so authentic and fun and joyful and humble and generous and kind to everyone," Ripa said Monday. "What you see of Ryan on the air is the person he is backstage, which is a unique thing."

As she continued to heap praise upon Seacrest, the on-air host started to tear up. "I'm using every ounce of energy to fight back tears right now, while she's saying that," he admitted. The work on Live has been just as personal on the other side of the desk. "We do a television show, but it's not just a television show," Seacrest responded. "We come in and we literally have our first cup of coffee together and catch up with each other as friends do, and that's the dynamic we hope we have with people who are watching as well."

Seacrest first joined Ripa in 2017, and in the years since, the radio personality said the experience has "exceeded the expectations, absolutely." Calling his co-host an "amazing individual," Seacrest returned the admiration to Ripa. "I learned so much from her, not just [about] being on the air but about life. I mean she's a remarkable colleague, the most amazing mother and wife and I get to see all sides of that," he said.

Ripa added that the most impressive part of working with Seacrest is how humble he has remained throughout years of being a major Hollywood star. "He's not spoiled, the way a lot of people get spoiled really, when they get their fancy job — and by fancy I mean like, you know, a show-business-y job," she explained. "Ryan has not been jaded or made cynical by a job that often makes people cynical or jaded immediately."

The connection the two have built over the years is like nothing else. "You learn so much about the other," Seacrest shared. "Like I know every day Kelly and I workout about the same time, she watches things that irritate her to burn off calories, I listen to ballads, love songs. She eats dinner when I go to bed. There're just these things we know about each other's rhythms that you learn once you work together."