Kelly Ripa Says She Was Given a Janitor’s Closet as an Office on ‘Live’

Kelly Ripa is opening up about her humble beginnings on daytime television. During an interview with Variety, Ripa said that when she first joined Live in 2001, she wasn’t exactly given the star treatment. She claimed that when she initially joined the talk show, she didn’t even have a permanent office at the studio. Instead, she allegedly had to work out of what was once a janitor’s closet. 

Ripa called her early days on Live “the strangest experience I’ve ever had in my life.” She continued to reflect on why the experience was so difficult, claiming that the show, which she co-hosted with Regis Philbin, refused to let her have her own office. The talk show host said, “I was told that I couldn’t have an office. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense, especially because there were empty offices that I could have easily occupied.” It wasn’t until her fourth year on the show that Ripa was given an office, which she alleged was actually a janitor’s closet that they fashioned into a space for her. 

“They finally cleaned out the closet and put a desk in there for me,” Ripa continued. “And so I was working in the janitor’s closet with a desk so that I could have a place to put things.” Once Philbin left the show in 2011, Ripa was able to move into a bigger, legitimate office space. Still, she allegedly had to put in some work to make that happen. When Philbin left, she assumed that she would be able to move into his old office. However, production allegedly said that they were waiting for the next, male co-host to take over the office space. So, Ripa took matters into her own hands. 

Ripa explained, “They said, ‘Oh, no, we’re saving that.’ And I said, ‘Saving it for what?’ And they go, ‘Well, for when the new guy comes.’ And I looked at them, and I said, ‘I am the new guy. I just moved my things. I forced my way into the office because I couldn’t understand how I would still be in the janitor’s closet and somebody new would come in and get the office.” While her time on Live hasn’t always gone smoothly, Ripa is a staple on morning television and has been for over two decades. Now, she’s heading into a new chapter of her Live career, as her co-host, Ryan Seacrest, is leaving on April 14. Ripa’s husband, Mark Consuelos, will take his place and serve as the new co-host of the morning show.