The Untold Truth Of Kelly Ripa

Kelly Ripa is one of the most recognizable faces on morning television. She's earned millions co-hosting "Live" since 2001 and has held down the fort opposite a rotating cast of male counterparts. Following her rough start with Regis Philbin, she had a contentious run with Michael Strahan before enjoying smoother waters with Ryan Seacrest, with whom she had a great relationship. In 2023, she welcomed yet another co-host to the "Live" set: her husband, Mark Consuelos. While they initially hated the idea of working together, they eventually realized it would likely be a recipe for success. "If you have a solid foundation at home, then your foundation is solid no matter what your job is," Ripa told E! in 2024. After all, they had previously worked together on another huge TV franchise.

Ripa is, of course, also a bonafide soap opera star, having appeared in 462 episodes of "All My Children." She and Consuelos met on the show in 1995 when they played love interests and, although their marriage is sometimes strange, it's lasted longer than most in Hollywood — as has Ripa's career, despite her alleged shady side. And yet, even with all of the media attention she's received over the past three decades, there's still plenty that folks don't know about her. This is the untold truth of Kelly Ripa.

Esther Ripa wasn't big on enforcing household chores. Instead, her focus was on getting her daughters, Kelly and Linda, involved in the arts. "My mom didn't teach me normal stuff, like how to do laundry or cook," she told Good Housekeeping, joking she didn't learn how to use a can opener until she moved out. "She thought it would be better for us to have ballet lessons than do chores around the house," Kelly explained. And so, while they focused on performing, their mom took care of the more mundane tasks, like preparing school lunches — but her efforts weren't always appreciated.

During a 2023 episode of "LIVE with Kelly and Mark," Kelly recalled Essie's lunchbox go-to — cream cheese and grape jelly on white toast — and quipped, "You truly haven't lived through the horror of a school lunch until you've had one of my mom's." As she explained, it wasn't the combination that bothered her. Rather, it was the fact that her mom liked to prepare the sandwich the night before, which ensured "it would get good and mushy." She also had a habit of placing it in the fridge right next to a half-sliced onion. "I would have an aromatic, cream cheese and jelly, onion-scented slime sandwich — with maybe an apple," Kelly shuddered.

She's built a successful, decades-long career co-hosting "Live," yet Kelly Ripa doesn't have fond memories of her early days on the show. As she told People, "It took years to earn my place there and earn things that are routinely given to the men I worked with." That included the most basic benefits, like an office. Speaking with Variety in 2023, Ripa revealed that she was repeatedly denied her own workspace, despite there being plenty of empty offices available. "It was after my fourth year that they finally cleaned out the [janitor's] closet and put a desk in there for me," she told the mag. Not to mention she didn't have paid vacation, a wardrobe budget, maternity leave, or even a private bathroom (which Regis Philbin had). Instead, she had to use the public restroom. "Picture this: We have a studio audience — like 250 people! — and I have to queue up," she recalled. "Particularly when I was pregnant, it was extraordinarily exhausting to have to wait in line."

Even as her star rose, execs didn't budge. When Philbin left and she became "Live"'s top name, they refused to let her use his old office. This time, she wasn't having it — she packed her things and moved in. "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," she fumed.

Kelly Ripa nearly lost her sister and her unborn nephew in a horrific car accident in 1999. Linda Ripa was stopped at a light when a drunk driver hit her vehicle head-on. The terrifying crash left her with dozens of broken bones and, scariest of all, it broke her pelvis in such a way that it put her unborn son, Sergio-Giuseppe, into a coma for four weeks. Linda, who was seven months pregnant at the time, eventually gave birth to a healthy baby, but her ordeal was far from over. She was bedridden for nearly a year and could barely spend time with her son. "My mother is a 24-hour-a-day nurse to my sister," Kelly said at the time, per the New York Post.

Three years on, Linda had undergone seven operations and needed more. ”I don't suspect I will be without pain the rest of my life,” she told The New York Times in 2002. Her pain remained not only because of the severity of her injuries, but because the orthopedic surgeon who initially set her broken ankle botched the operation. In 2004, a jury ordered him to pay Linda $15 million for leaving her with a club foot and permanent nerve damage. Adding to her pain was the drunk driver's trial. As she told the outlet, when she appeared in court, "They called me the names you might imagine, as if it was my fault." Ultimately, he was sentenced to just six to 24 months in prison.

Another reason why Kelly Ripa has never felt comfortable on camera is that she struggles with severe social anxiety. As she wrote in her 2002 memoir, "Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories" (via People), she's always felt awkward and ill at ease with the spotlight on her. "People think that because I'm an extrovert on television I am one in real life. Surprise. That's why they call it acting," she revealed. However, it wasn't until she turned 40 that she sought professional help. That's when, as she shared during a 2023 episode of her "Let's Talk Off Camera" podcast, a friend suggested she see a therapist. "[My friend] said, 'How are you?' and I started sobbing and I wasn't entirely sure why," Ripa recalled. "She said, 'I'm going to write down the name of my therapist,'" she laughed.

Ripa also spoke about her mental health journey with Washington Post Live in 2022, sharing, "I really sought therapy as a way to sort of deal with the stress and learn how to manage my own anxiety." She's since learned to do so through breathing and meditation techniques, and by learning that there's no shame in failure. As Ripa explained, she would often ask herself, "If you bomb, then what?" It was through therapy that she was finally able to realize, "The answers are always, well, nothing happens, life goes on."

There have been a lot of unflattering rumors about what Kelly Ripa is like as a professional partner. Indeed, Ripa and Michael Strahan's tense relationship made plenty of headlines after she was blindsided by his sudden 2016 exit from "Live." Ripa disappeared from the show for a week, later telling Variety, "I didn't kick up a fuss; it wasn't a big thing." Rather, she said she simply needed time to cool off because she couldn't believe bosses hadn't bothered to tell her about Strahan's departure. 

Meanwhile, Strahan told The New York Times Magazine in 2020 that Ripa wasn't exactly a victim. He alleged she wasn't a team player and didn't want to hear his suggestions. "One thing I tried to do is have a meeting every few weeks with her," he recalled. After a few times, she reportedly refused to keep meeting. "It's selfish, and I don't operate well under that," he mused.

For her part, it wasn't the first time Ripa was kept in the dark about big decisions on the show. When Regis Philbin announced his retirement on-air, she had no idea it was coming. After his departure, Philbin alleged they never spoke again and told CNN, "[Ripa] got very offended when I left." Sharing her side of the story, she told People that simply wasn't true. "I was steadfast in my attempt at communication," she told the mag. "You can't make a person befriend you."