Kathie Lee Gifford Seemingly Shades LIVE! Successor Kelly Ripa

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Kelly Ripa took over for Kathie Lee Gifford on "Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee" in 2001, a year after Gifford ended her 15-year run as Regis Philbin's co-host. "Live! With Regis and Kelly" ran until 2011, when Philbin departed the beloved morning show, and Ripa got promoted to number one on the call sheet. As one of the most-watched daytime programs around, it's safe to assume that most people have seen at least one episode of "Live!" in the 25 years since Ripa joined. Turns out, Gifford hasn't! The daytime legend made the shady admission in a new People profile. But why has the outspoken star, who notably appeared on "Live!" for Philbin's final episode in 2011, otherwise avoided the show she called home for well over a decade? 

"I wasn't interested," Gifford reasoned. "I was making movies and writing for theater! I wrote about four different musicals," she pointed out, referencing her other career as a prolific writer and actor. Despite the distance that the beloved TV personality seems to have maintained from "Live!," she still believes Philbin was the best thing since sliced bread. "Oh, I loved him," Gifford enthused, recalling, "He was so much fun. We never had a cross word in 15 years. I miss him every day." When it comes to the living legend's relationship with Ripa, things seem to be a little more complicated. Interestingly, it began long before her latest comments.

Kathie Lee Gifford probably doesn't qualify as one of the celebs who can't stand Kelly Ripa, but it's safe to say she's not her biggest fan either. Although the relationship between Gifford and Ripa has mostly been drama-free, over the years they've had a couple of prickly public moments. In October 2022, the former "Live!" host lightly scolded her successor, after Ripa included a few unflattering anecdotes about Regis Philbin in her "Live Wire" memoir. "I was really sorry to see the headlines," Gifford admitted to Fox 5 New York. "What's the point?" She then delivered the ultimate diss to her by sharing, "I'm not going to read the book. I haven't read it. I don't even know if it's out yet." 

The back-and-forth continued when Ripa appeared on the "Not Skinny But Not Fat" podcast later that very same month. "You don't have to read every book," she conceded, referring to Gifford. "Nobody has to read every book on earth," Ripa continued, before professing, "The comments I've gotten about those chapters have been overwhelmingly positive and the people who read the book took away a lot of positivity from it." Referencing the virality of the former soap star's memoir — which also detailed Ripa's marriage to Mark Consuelos — she realized that she simply had to take the good with the bad. And that included Gifford's criticism. "And so my ultimate comment is, 'Thank you,'" Ripa said.