Kelly Ripa Breaks Silence on Kathie Lee Gifford’s Reaction to Her Book
Avoiding the drama. Kelly Ripa finally responded to Kathie Lee Gifford's comments that she has no plans to read Live Wire
because she worries it will include negative stories about her former co-host, Regis Philbin.
“It is very difficult to sell a book, isn't it? And [her comments came during], like, the third week of the book [being released],"
the 52-year-old Live with Kelly and Ryan co-host told Amanda Hirsch on Tuesday, Oct. 18's episode of "Not Skinny." But Not Fat” by Dear Media.
podcast. “I'm not going to lie, I wasn't reading any headlines anywhere [at the time].
And all of a sudden all these headlines come out and there's all this attention on my book.
I'm a person who tends to take the negative and turn it into a positive, so my last comment [to her] is, 'Thank you.'”
Ripa added that she believes "people who read the book" will have a "completely" different view of the chapters that mention the morning show host, who died in July 2020 at the age of 88.
“You know, if you read it, if you do a deep dive, I side with him for most of the chapter,” the former soap opera star continued.
“I'm, like, on her side because…at the time, I wasn't aware that this wasn't an option for him [to have a new co-host]. I was not a choice for him."
Ultimately, Ripa thinks it's "ironic" that the Live Wire episode she's getting the most attention for is
actually one in which she ponders whether her relationship with Philbin is worth correcting the record.
“This whole chapter is about correcting the registry in real time,” she explained. "Do you do it? Should one do it, theoretically? ...
People who read the book have a very different view of those chapters because they read the book. ... And the feedback
I've gotten on those chapters has been overwhelmingly positive and people who read the book took away a lot of positivity.”
Although the All My Children alum declared that "nobody has to read every book on Earth," she seemed to cast a shadow over the 69-year-old former Today presenter.
“I'm like, the opposite [of her]. I don't comment on things I don't know, so I don't know [exactly what she said].”
Earlier this month, Gifford made headlines after she stated that she would not read Live Wire. “I was very sorry to see the headlines,” she told Fox 5’s Rosanna Scotto on October 10.
“You know, 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.’ ‘Cause what’s the point? I don’t get it. I don’t get it.”
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