Kelly Ripa Recounts How She Almost Retired From 'Live'
Kelly Ripa recently embarked on a new Live journey with her husband, Mark Consuelos. However, during an interview with Variety, Ripa recounted how she almost retired from Live in the past. Now that her husband is co-hosting the morning show with her, she has "no anxiety" about continuing to appear on the morning show.
Both Ripa and Consuelos spoke to Variety in advance of the premiere of the new Live With Kelly and Mark back in April. Consuelos was tapped to fill Ryan Seacrest's place on the series. As Ripa related to the publication, her time on Live almost came to an end prior to her husband joining the program. She told Variety that she considered retiring from the morning show prior to Seacrest's decision to join in 2017, a moment which marked a turning point for her Live career.
Ripa, who has been a part of Live since 2001, expressed that she wasn't sure whether she should continue with the ABC show considering how executives treated her (the publication cited the drama surrounding previous co-host Michael Strahan, who was poached for a position on Good Morning America without her knowing). Now that Consuelos has joined as her next co-host, she's naturally going to stay in the Live fold. She said about her husband joining as a co-host, "It's definitely breathed new life into me. This is a bird of a feather I understand completely. There is no anxiety about it."
Consuelos' first official day as a co-host took place in April. In the episode, Ripa said that it was "the beginning of a new chapter," and went on to joke that her husband would be "joining me today – and permanently, until one of us dies." Meanwhile, Seacrest's last day on the job was Friday. The American Idol host previously told fans that he was leaving the morning show in order to focus on other projects. Still, he shared that he would dearly miss his "work wife," Ripa.
"I'm going to miss my work wife and all the laughter we share," Seacrest stated. "When I signed on to host Live in 2017 it was meant to be for 3 years, but I loved the job and working with Kelly so much that I extended my time and last year I made the decision to stay on for one more final season. I've been grateful to be able to share a cup of coffee with our viewers everyday, one of the best parts of the gig."