Kelly Ripa recently celebrated a big milestone on LIVE With Kelly & Mark. Around this time, she also recently spoke about how things weren’t always easy on the show. She also shared something that inspired her to keep pushing forward.
Kelly Ripa Recently Celebrated 25 Years On LIVE With Kelly & Mark
Ripa first joined LIVE back in 2000, officially becoming part of the show the following year, taking over for Kathie Lee Gifford. Sitting alongside a number of different hosts, she officially teamed up with her husband, Mark Consuelos, as co-hosts in 2023.
Over the years, Ripa has also established herself through other ventures, such as acting. Prior to joining LIVE, she was known to many for her work on the soap opera All My Children. The daytime drama was also where she first met Consuelos, who also played her on-screen love interest.
Recently, Ripa celebrated 25 years on the long-running talk show. Speaking with Variety, she recently admitted that the first eight years she worked on the New York-based show were more tense than some might think.
As a soap actress, Ripa admitted that she initially wasn’t looking for another job. Her contract on All My Children still had over a year left, and she had also considered giving up working to raise her kids. In fact, she mused that this might have been what got her the job. As she put it, “I think part of the reason I was attractive in any way is because I was the one person not pushing to get an audition for that show.” She soon found she earned an “audience response.”
Ripa Felt That One Of Her Co-Hosts Had An Easier Time Of Things
However, Ripa admitted that actually getting the job soon came with pressure. She shared, “When there’s something at stake, a far greater pressure is on you when you are a co-host versus when you’re just a fill-in person. I felt terrified.”
Ripa admitted that she finally pushed back these fears around “maybe the eighth year.” She continued, “It took me a while to not feel terrified. It really took a long time to get comfortable.”
As the outlet noted, while Ripa had her nerves, she felt that one co-host in particular might have had an easier time of things. She admitted that she was surprised by how her husband Mark was “comfortable and good” almost “immediately” when he joined the show. She joked, “Where it took me eight years to become comfortable, it took him maybe eight days!”
Recently on the show, Kelly also celebrated her 25th anniversary as a co-host. Guests included Art Moore, David Muir, and her own children.
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John Witiw has been a writer since at least 2015. He’s covered a variety of topics, especially when it comes to film and television.
