Last week, we reported that Kathie Lee Gifford had announced that she will not be reading Kelly Ripa’s book because she allegedly bashes Regis Philbin in it. Now, Ripa is responding to Gifford, and she’s surprisingly thanking her for the publicity garnered by her refusal to read her book.
Ripa’s book “Live Wire” came out on September 27, and it features many stories from her life. It also includes details from her time working with Philbin hosting “Live! With Regis And Kelly” from 2001 until 2011.
Ripa replaced Gifford, who co-hosted the show with Philbin from 1988 until 2000.
In her book, Ripa claimed that Philbin referred to her as “it” during her time on the show, and alleged that they were not friends outside of work, according to Page Six.
Full Story: Kathie Lee Gifford States That She Will Not Read Kelly Ripa’s Anti-Regis Philbin Book
Ripa Thanks Gifford For Not Reading Her Book
While appearing on Dear Media’s “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast, Ripa was asked about Gifford’s comments about her book.
“I didn’t see the interview, so I tend to, like, not go into deep dives about things I can’t comment on because I haven’t seen them,” she said. “And then I write this entire chapter, [which] is about correcting the record in real-time. Do you do it? Should one do it?”
“I knew writing a book was going to open me up to all sorts of criticism, right?” Ripa added. “But people who read the book have a very different take on those chapters because they read the book.”
Ripa went on to explain that she is “a big free-speech person,” and to imply that those who actually read her book may find that it’s not as anti-Philbin as the press has portrayed it to be.
She then gave the surprising reason why she thinks that Gifford speaking out against her book may actually be a good thing for her.
“It’s really hard to sell a book, right? And this is like, week three of the book, right?” she said. “And I mean, honestly, I’m not gonna lie, I was not reading any headlines anywhere. And suddenly all of these headlines pop up and there’s all of this attention on my book. So I am a person that tends to take a negative and turn it into a positive. And so my ultimate comment is, thank you.”
“It’s like really hard to get attention on a book that’s been out for a couple of weeks and now it’s week two, second week on The New York Times Best Sellers list,” Ripa continued. “It’s like, thank you, because I think that people that read the book will have a very different take on the book.”
When asked if she’s afraid that Gifford will dissuade anyone from reading her book, Ripa replied, “I think anybody that reads the book will have a completely different take.”
Related: Kathie Lee Gifford Pays Tribute To Regis Philbin On His 91st Birthday
Kelly Ripa Bashes Regis Philbin
Ripa also had negative comments to say about Philbin during this podcast appearance. She said that she would not have agreed to co-host “Live!” with him if she’d known the drama that would come with the job.
“I wouldn’t have done it. No,” she said. “If I had known [about the show’s issues] going in, I wouldn’t have done it. And how sad for me. Luckily, ignorance is bliss.”
Ripa then explained that she “didn’t know that there was so much fighting between” Philbin and the network when she was hired.
“I was hyper-sensitive to the feelings all around me that this was like new and unusual terrain I was wading into,” she added. “It was sort of explained to me [that there were] these two battling forces within the company that I didn’t even know existed.”
That being said, Ripa can agree with Philbin now that he “didn’t need” a co-host.
“I take his side,” she said. “He should not have had to have a host assigned to him. That’s not fair. He paid his dues and he established this show. I felt for him because he was so famous and was so well-established.”
‘What’s The Point?’
Ripa continues to host “Live!” to this day, now doing so beside the media personality Ryan Seacrest.
Philbin died in 2020 at the age of 88, and Gifford questioned “what’s the point” of criticizing him in a memoir now that he’s gone.
“I was very sorry to see the headlines [about Philbin],” Gifford recently said of Ripa’s memoir. “You never know what’s true and what’s not true. I went, ‘I hope this isn’t true. I just hope it isn’t.’ Because what’s the point? I don’t get it. I don’t get it.”
Check out Gifford’s full comments on this in the video below.
While Ripa certainly has the right to speak her truth, it seems unfortunate that Philbin isn’t around to defend himself from the allegations she’s making against him.
There’s clearly no love lost between Ripa and Gifford, and it’d be fascinating to hear Philbin’s thoughts on that if he were alive today!
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