Kelly Ripa reveals chapters about late co-host Regis Philbin in new book were ‘hardest’ to write

Kelly Ripa revealed that the chapters about her late co-host Regis Philbin in her new book Live Wire were the “hardest” to write as she promoted it on a talk show on Thursday.

The 51-year-old daytime talk show host, dressed in a short black and white polka dot dress, discussed Regis, who died in 2020 at age 88, while appearing on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on Bravo.

Andy, 54, said he was blown away by book details about her contract restrictions when she first participated in the live morning show with then-host Regis in 2001.

“You couldn’t bring your own hair and makeup,” Andy said. There was no budget for wardrobe. No paid maternity leave. No office for you.’

Kelly said those things gradually changed for her.

“I wasn’t on maternity leave with ‘All My Children,’ either,” she said, referring to her former soap opera. “This was just a sign of the times. The other things were more alarming because they were a bit basic and treated as these special privileges.’

Andy said he was pleased that she also cleared up the controversy surrounding Regis in the book and that he said he was never invited back to the show after he left.

“You became a real target,” Andy said.

“I still am,” Kelly said. “I wish I had set the record straight in real time. I really trusted the people around me… People keep telling me to take the main road.”

Kelly said she continues to be accused of people vandalizing Regis when she did the exact opposite.

“I meticulously wrote every word of this book and it was hard and those chapters were the hardest,” Kelly said. ‘As women, we are often told, take the highway and those are women who speak for ‘shut the f*** up’.

Andy showed Kelly pictures of her old look and she stood by.

He then played a game with her called ‘Have! Did you flee there?’ Kelly admitted in the game that she did the “deed” in a bathroom, on a boat, at All My Children, and at Andy’s house in Fire Island.

“That was a day out,” Andy said.

“It was a rented house, I didn’t think I was desecrating anything,” Kelly said.

A fan asked Kelly who her choice of co-host was when Ryan Seacrest didn’t get the job.

“I would have had a wife in an instant. You know it’s a decision I can’t make,” Kelly said. “I’ve always found the idea of ​​two women hosting a show very appealing.”

Andy asked her if she had a favorite segment she did with Regis.

“We did something where Regis babysits my kids,” Kelly said. “He brushed Lola’s teeth. He helped her brush her teeth.

Andy told her that he loved the book and that at the end she mentioned her cosmetic dentist, her dermatologist, and her other doctors.

Kelly also shared that despite being married to actor Mark Consuelos, 51, for 27 years, he still sexually pleases her.

“I don’t get tired of it,” Kelly said.

Another fan asked her what was the best and worst part of not having a studio audience on the show and if they would ever get one again.

“The best part is we’re very efficient,” Kelly said. “The worst part is I think it’s quieter.”

Andy congratulated Kelly on her daughter Lola’s single on Spotify. Kelly said Lola had released an entire album.

Andy asked her about her story in the book about fainting during sex because of an ovarian cyst.

“Women on the street are literally looking at him again,” Kelly said of her husband.

Kelly shared a story about how when she was pregnant with her second child, she told the producers on All My Children and thought they would write it. The producers eventually told her no because the character Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) was already pregnant.

“Erica is pregnant and we can’t have storylines about a double pregnancy,” Kelly recalls.

They also played a game where they had to guess the names of the characters from All My Children. Andy asked her about the soap’s reboot and she said the pandemic was pushing everything back.

“We haven’t given up,” Kelly said.