In her new book, Kelly Ripa discusses her “forced” relationship with Regis Philbin and explains her reasoning.

Regarding her relationship with the late Regis Philbin, Kelly Ripa is being more honest. The morning show presenter, 51, explained to ET’s Rachel Smith why she was open about her off-screen relationship with Philbin in her new book, Live Wire.

Kelly Ripa’s Relationship With Regis Philbin

“I had and still have enormous respect, admiration and reverence for Regis,” Ripa reportedly told about the late TV personality, who died in 2020. “I, like most of the viewing public, felt like I knew him, but to expect two people from such different generations to have some weird, forced friendship when they never knew each other is an extraordinary thing to put on one person.” She added that it was only put on one person, which is how she described it in the book.

From 2001 to 2011, Ripa and Philbin co-hosted Live With Regis and Kelly. Ripa said they had “a very professional working relationship” over their ten years on the air.

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That used to be a celebrated thing, but in this weird, gonzo tabloid, somehow that was strange, and she was vilified, she said. “That’s why I address it in the book. We had a professional working relationship, and that’s what we had, and that’s OK because we are from different generations, we had different friend groups and professional backgrounds,” she added.

Ripa’s experience in the entertainment industry was in soap operas, but Philbin began his career on talk shows in the 1950s and worked there until he joined Live.

Ripa said it took her five years to learn to look into the camera because she was trained never to break the fourth wall. She comes from the acting world, so there is no class for this; she added that they didn’t teach her how to do this.

After Philbin left the programme, Ripa and Michael Strahan continued to host it. In 2016, the former NFL player left the series. Presently, Ripa and Ryan Seacrest co-host the programme, which is now called Live With Kelly and Ryan.

During her hectic Live schedule, Ripa decided to sit down and compose her book of essays, which not only discusses Philbin but also touches on her marriage to Mark Consuelos, her role as a mother to Michael, 25, Lola, 21, and Joaquin, 19, as well as other topics.

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