Kelly Ripa admitted she was thinking about retiring after 22 years of co-hosting the program with several co-hosts, including her husband Mark Consuelos and Ryan Seacrest.
As she discusses her long term hosting gig while chatting with Puristic magazine, the 52-year-old talk show host revealed that she doesn’t “plan to work at this job for the rest of her life.”
“I talk about my retirement with great interest, but at the moment I am very happy, especially with Mark,” she told the outlet.
As for becoming an empty nester after her youngest child, Joaquin, left for college last year at the University of Michigan, the mother-of-three was elated at all of her kids leaving home.
“I know there are women who are afraid of it, and I was afraid of it, and it’s so amazing,” she continued.
Looking Ahead: Kelly Ripa admitted after 22 years of co-hosting the program with several co-hosts, including her husband Mark Consuelos and Ryan Seacrest, that she considered retiring from Live; seen in March 2023
The All My Children alum revealed that having her adult children move out has made her and Consuelos, 52, “rediscover each other as a couple.”
“We talk about holidays and where we want to retire. It’s a really exciting time,” the actress added.
Elsewhere in the interview, Ripa opened up about navigating being “risk averse” but also “doing some of the most challenging and scary things,” like hosting a live television show for millions of viewers.
“I think the risk-averse trait I have is probably why I stayed with the same job for so long,” she reflected. “There will be other offers, but I like to stick with what I know.”
The star joined Live With Regis & Kelly in 2001 after Kathy Lee Gifford left.
In March, she told Variety she “had a really hard time” at first and pushed for an office to have some privacy.
Despite seeing empty office spaces in the building, where she could have easily slipped in to make a call, leave her purse, and put away her paperwork, Ripa was told no.
Future plans: Speaking to Purist magazine about her longtime hosting gig, the 52-year-old talk show host revealed that she has no intention of staying at this job for the rest of her life (pictured in 2001)
“I talk about retirement with great interest, but right now I’m very happy, especially with Mark,” she told the outlet; seen last year
She added that she had been informed that the empty office spaces were reserved for executives visiting from Los Angeles.
Then, four years later, in 2005, she got a janitor’s closet that they cleaned out and put a desk in.
It was clearly a way to keep her ego in check.
She thought she would finally get her own office when her costar Regis – who died in 2020 – retired in 2011.
But that didn’t happen.
Previous Co-Host: Ripa previously hosted the show with Ryan Seacrest, who left the show in April
Fun: Michael Strahan co-hosted Ripa for four years between 2012 and 2016
Dream team: Meanwhile, Regis Philbin and Ripa had been working together for over a decade; seen in 2011
Instead of inheriting Philbin’s spacious office, it remained empty.
“They said, ‘Oh, no, we’ll keep that.’ And I said, ‘Keep it for what?’” she said.
And they say, “Well, in case the new man comes.” And I looked at them, and I said, ‘I’m the new man,'” she said.
Kelly was denied permission to take over the office. So instead she pushed herself into it.
New Chapter: The All My Children alum revealed that having the kids out of the house has allowed her and Consuelos, 52, to “rediscover each other as a couple”
“We talk about holidays and where we want to retire. It’s a really exciting time,” the actress added
“All those offices that weren’t available to me were suddenly made available (to others), with walls knocked down to make them twice the size,” she added.
“It was fascinating for me to see – the need to make the new man comfortable and respected, but I couldn’t use those offices,” she said.
“I had to use the broom closet.”
And if she had to use the bathroom, she had to go to the main bathroom where the audience was led.
In March, she told Variety she “had a really hard time” at first and pushed for some workplace privacy because she didn’t have her own office; seen in April 2023
‘We have a studio audience – about 250 people! – and I have to queue,’ she explained.
‘Especially during my pregnancy, it was extremely tiring to have to queue.
“I have to host the show and I’m still queuing to go to the bathroom,” she said. “It just seemed like an unnecessarily difficult situation.”
So who does she blame? The network, because they didn’t keep it even.