Kelly Ripa was originally told Regis Philbin wasn’t looking for a co-host before she was hired

Kelly Ripa told a new interview that she initially thought she was “just filling in for the day” when she first hosted her future talk show with Regis Philbin.

That’s what the 52-year-old talk show host and actress claimed in Tuesday’s episode Not skinny but not fat podcast where she was told Philbin — who died in July 2020 at age 88 — wasn’t even looking for a co-host at the time.

“He certainly didn’t need me there,” she said of the legendary entertainer, even though she said she eventually felt like she had established her spot on what Live! with Regis and Kelly.

While she sometimes felt uncomfortable in her early days on the show for not feeling like she belonged, Kelly defended Regis’ alleged ambitions to host the show on her own.

“If you’re a new person joining an established show and a well-oiled machine, and if you’re reading the book [her memoir Live Wire], you know this. I’m taking his side in this whole argument,” she said, via People. “He shouldn’t have had a host. That’s not fair. He’s paid his dues and he’s put on this show, and I’m really advocating for him in this book.”

She added that sometimes they don’t gel because they were “two strangers from two completely different generations.”

“It’s like very, very different people come together in this workplace and I felt for him because he was so famous and so well established,” she said.

Earned: “He shouldn’t have had a host. That’s not fair. He’s paid his dues and he’s put on this show, and I’m really advocating for him in this book,” she told People; seen on September 27 in NYC

While producers were looking for a co-host to work with Regis, Kelly claimed she wasn’t told before working with the TV icon for the first time.

Instead of being told she was “auditioning for the show,” she thought she was “just filling in for the day.”

‘I was told that, and I was told they weren’t looking for a host. And I thought, “No problem. I already have a job. I’m very overwhelmed as it is,” she continued. ‘I have a toddler. I was pregnant – nobody knew that. It’s like all these things were going on in my head. I was trying to find a way to love the camera and stay there because I had my hands full. I really had my hands full and I didn’t want to go through this again.’

But when the co-hosting spot was unexpectedly “handed” to her, she found herself in “a very disturbing position.”

False Pretenses: She claimed she was told she was only filling in for a day, rather than auditioning for a full-time co-hosting role; seen in 2001

‘I have no expertise in this area,’ she admitted, adding, ‘but when has that ever stopped me?

“But I was really insecure about my own abilities, but I was hypersensitive to the feelings around me that this was like new and unusual territory that I was wading in,” she continued.

Though she didn’t know it at first, the occasional actress said she later learned that some of the show’s creative team wanted Regis to go on alone, while others thought he should have a younger wife.

‘I couldn’t put my finger on it. It wasn’t until it was explained to me between these two forces within the company that I didn’t even know existed,” she said. ‘I was so ignorant. I was just an actor on a soap opera. I didn’t know about that.’

Kelly admitted she couldn’t say whether Regis wanted to go solo after Kathie Lee Gifford’s departure, but she claimed “he definitely didn’t need me there.”

Making matters worse, she thought she hadn’t contributed much to the show’s early days, even though some fans appreciated her presence.

Conflict: Kelly claimed there were “armed forces” behind the scenes, some wanted Regis to take over, while others wanted him to assign a younger co-host; seen in 2011 in NYC

Fortunately, Kelly’s ignorance of the machinations behind the camera allowed her to stay on the show, as she might have quit early had she known she wasn’t being welcomed by some influential figures.

“If I’d known I’d gone in, I wouldn’t have done it,” she explained. ‘And how sad for me. How sad for me. Fortunately, ignorance is a blessing…that saying is true. Ignorance is bliss.

“I didn’t realize there was so much fighting between these two factions and that I was considered a network girl, which is so ridiculous,” she continued. ‘I was part of a 40-piece ensemble that was cast in a soap opera. So I didn’t think of myself as anything of anything. I considered myself an actor.’

Kelly continued, “I think the reason the public took me on, and I’m so thankful they did the way they did and as fast as they did, is because I struggled in public. And maybe people didn’t recognize it as a struggle, but they recognized something in themselves that they saw in me – a real person, really unsure of what they were doing.”

Just as Regis had done shortly after Kathie Lee’s departure, Kelly was left alone after his 2011 departure, although Michael Strahan was confirmed as her guest host in 2012.

However, it apparently didn’t suit the former athlete, who abruptly jumped ship in 2016 to co-host Good Morning America, which also airs on ABC. American Idol’s Ryan Seacrest is currently her co-host.

Ignorance is a blessing: She admitted she would have quit had she known early on that some producers didn’t want her on the show, though she was glad she didn’t find out until later; photographed in September