Celebrities Who Can't Stand Kelly Ripa

Kelly Ripa's career feels like a Hollywood dream come true. The TV star dropped out of college to pursue a career as an actor, and before she knew it, she was Hayley Vaughn on ABC's All My Children. On the set of that soap, reality would imitate art: Her on-screen marriage partner would turn out to be the same person she secretly married in real life, Mark Consuelos. They have been married for 24 years and have three kids. 

And a decade after she made her soap opera debut, she was named Regis Philbin's co-host on the show formerly known as Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. Ripa has filled the seat on Live ever since she took over for Kathie Lee Gifford on February 12, 2001. The morning chat program that would go on to become Live with Regis and Kelly would carry on well after Philbin's 2011 retirement. First, it was Live with Kelly. Then, it was Live with Kelly and Michael. And since 2017, it's been Live with Kelly and Ryan. 

Over the years, Ripa has gained fame and fortune through her talents as an actor and television personality. She has also made her fair share of enemies along the way. There are a handful of celebrities who, unlike her fans, can't stand Kelly Ripa (or at the very least, have reportedly gotten into it with Kelly Ripa). Hey, it's probably safe to assume you can't host a breakfast show for this long without cracking a few eggs.

NFL Hall of Famer Michael Strahan partnered with Kelly Ripa on Live with Kelly and Michael in 2012. They were a dynamic duo right out the gate, and even took home a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host in 2016. In front of the camera, the two were always smiling, but things took a turn when the Super Bowl champion announced his departure from the show. After news of Strahan's move to GMA broke, TMZ reported Ripa allegedly bullied her longtime co-host behind the scenes. (A second source told TMZ that this claim was "a joke.")

In 2016, Strahan told People, "At one point I think we were friends. I don't know what happened at the end." Trying to bury the hatchet, the former New York Giant told The New York Times in 2020 he tried to set up bi-weekly meetings with his former co-host until she said "she didn't need to meet." Regarding his transition from the NFL to the small screen, the Brothers star said, "on television, I've had jobs where I got there and felt like: Wow, I didn't know I was supposed to be a sidekick. I thought I was coming here to be a partner." After revealing they were no longer on speaking terms, he said Ripa is brilliant. "I don't hate her," he said. "I do respect her for what she can do at her job."

Regis Philbin, who earned the Guinness World Record for most hours on U.S. television, shared the spotlight with Kelly Ripa for ten years on Live with Regis and Kelly. Ripa would become his successor to continue the show that he started hosting in 1983, back when it was called The Morning Show. When they worked together, Ripa revealed to The New York Times that he had an "absolutely no talking off-camera" mandate. But since his departure, it seems his superstition to save the magic for the show was only magic for the daytime talk show.

The Bronx native told The Insider, "I think [Ripa] got angry when I left," adding that he was retiring from the daily grind as he was turning 80. "I wasn't trying to dive from her," he further told Debbie Matenopoulos. The strained relationship between Ripa and Philbin was nothing like his connection to former Live co-host Kathie Lee Gifford. As Gifford shared in 2020, they remained good friends and talked up until his death. In 2019, Philbin told Today, "Kathie Lee, you want to know the best part of my life, my TV life, was in the 15 years I spent with you, 1985 to 2000. We stayed friends throughout the entire game and it was a lot of fun."

Philbin's estranged relationship with Ripa sure suggests the decade-long co-hosts didn't click outside of the studio at 7 Lincoln Square in New York.

Never one to mince words, Howard Stern hasn't shied away from turning heel on Kelly Ripa. The shock jock has openly criticized the six-time Daytime Emmy Award winner on his show for her attitude towards former Live co-workers Regis Philbin and Michael Strahan. When Ripa decided to ditch Live following Strahan's decision to leave the show for a gig on GMA, Stern threw her shade. On a May 2016 episode of his SiriusXM radio show (via Radar Online), Stern said Ripa has "a contract" and "can't play hooky on your own show." The following year, Howie went on to throw another dig at Ripa. He told co-host Robin Quivers that "a day of our show is a week of Kelly Ripa's show" (via Radar Online).

In October 2019, The Howard Stern Show host mentioned to guest Jimmy Kimmel that he suspected foul play between Ripa and Philbin led to his exit from Live with Regis and Kelly. "Don't you think they should have Regis on that show once a year at least?" Stern asked (via USA Today), before adding, "I think he would've liked to at least be associated in some way with the show and remind people that he's the guy who started that whole thing." 

It's worth noting that Stern and Ripa were once friends: Not only did Ripa attend Stern's wedding to Beth Ostrosky, but as People noted, Mark Consuelos acted as officiant. 

Rosie O'Donnell has never been a fan of Kelly Ripa. In Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View, The Queen of Nice claimed (via Us Weekly), "Kelly Ripa is mean...she wanted to have this weird feud." O'Donnell also alleged that when they publicly run into each other, Ripa "looks away."

Their feud dates back to a 2006 episode of Live with Regis and Kelly that O'Donnell dredges back up in Ladies Who Punch. When Clay Aiken put his hand over Ripa's mouth, Ripa told her guest co-host that the move was "a no-no," before adding, "I don't know where that hand has been, honey." When this moment came up on The View, O'Donnell called the remark "homophobic." She explained, "If that was a guy that she didn't question his sexuality she would have said a different thing." And then, when Regis Philbin returned to Live, Ripa said Aiken was hostile and that she felt disrespected by his gesture.

A decade and some change later, Us Weekly reported that an insider claimed O'Donnell actually apologized to Ripa for rehashing the situation in the book. The source added that O'Donnell "has kept up with this alternate reality for public consumption." Curiously enough, O'Donnell once tweeted, "Kelly Ripa – the girl can hold a grudge." Given Ripa's support of the LGBTQ community, it feels safe to assume her comment to Aiken didn't come from a place of hate.

The day after the 2016 presidential election, then-Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly joined forces with Kelly Ripa to co-host Live. By fall 2017, they were pitted as rivals: Megyn Kelly Today aired during the same time slot as Live with Kelly and Ryan. With Kelly drifting away from her expected political coverage, some speculated she was gunning for Live's viewership. However, the first 10 weeks revealed Live won the overall ratings battle and significantly led in the 25-54 age group — the biggest revenue pool for a network — according to The New York Times. An industry insider told Page Six that NBC's hiring of Kelly wasted her talent and the company's dime. By 2018, Kelly's show was canceled a year into their three-year contract.

There were whispers of a rivalry between Kelly and Ripa, and the pair landed on an In Touch Weekly cover next to the words "nasty battle erupts" and "insults fly as feud turns personal" (via Gossip Cop). It's worth mentioning Gossip Cop reported that there were "elements of truth, but the story is ultimately misleading." While a feud between Kelly and Ripa was never confirmed, it's a wonder why Kelly distanced her show from covering politics, her strength, to emulate a similar style to Live. 

In 2017, Ripa told The New York Times that Live doesn't buy into battling with other programs. "We don't compare ourselves to anybody because we are the only ones who do what we do," she said.

Kelly Ripa and Jessica Seinfeld were total BFFs. So much so, that in 2014, the two peas in a pod went on a summer vacation to Greece with their respective spouses, Mark Consuelos and Jerry Seinfeld. Ripa even celebrated Jessica's 43rd birthday with her. The comedian's wife would post the memory on Instagram, writing, "When God gives you another sister....just with a different last name, @kellyripa." Likening their relationship to siblings, it appears their bond proved the adage "blood is thicker than water" correct; somewhere along the line, this sisterly friendship folded. So what happened?

Both parties have reportedly been silent about their friendship status for years. One is now more likely to find a photo of the Food Swings author with former Live host Michael Strahan before Ripa. In 2017, Blind Gossip shared a blind item about an alleged feud between "a wife of a famous comedian" and a "TV Girl" who used to be pals. The site's source claimed, "They hate each other now. If you see either of them in person, don't ask what happened to their friendship. They will simply turn their back on you and walk away without answering. It's left their mutual [celebrity] friends in the awkward position of having to choose up sides."

Sometimes, silence speaks louder than words. If their friendship status really went from being as thick as thieves to canceled, it makes you wonder what might've transpired between the two.

It's no secret Kelly Ripa has been a longtime critic against ABC's reality competition show The Bachelor and its spinoffs. She has openly disapproved of the show's format that pits a group ladies up against one another to fight over one "ordinary" dude. "You guys know how I feel about the show, it disgusts me," she said on Live in 2019, before adding, "all of you women watch that gross, gross show." The hostess with the mostest's remarks about the series caught the attention of Bachelor Nation and its brass.

The franchise's longtime host Chris Harrison weighed in on Twitter. "Look out #BachelorNation @KellyRipa is coming after you and your 'disgusting' Monday night habit," he wrote. And then, the show's creator, Mike Fleiss, jumped in by tweeting, "Easy, @KellyRipa ... #TheBachelor franchise pays your salary!" 

Eventually, another party would intervene to condemn Fleiss's behavior. Grey's Anatomy actor Ellen Pompeo called out Fleiss on Twitter, writing, "Okay @fleissmeister... that's some handle bro! Your show does NOT pay @KellyRipa salary. Also we don't attack successful women on our network and men certainly cannot take credit for their success. Don't get me started on your show cuz I'm a savage.... #bachelorsoooowhite."

The Golden Globe nominated actor had the last word. However, there is no knowledge of any sort of public apology from Harrison or Fleiss to Ripa.

Season 23 star of ABC's The Bachelor, Colton Underwood, clapped back in May 2019 when Kelly Ripa called the series "disgusting" and "creepy." In a now-deleted tweet (via Us Weekly) he wrote, "How mad is Kelly Ripa going to be when The Bachelor wins an Emmy this year? #ThankYouForYourConsideration." The guy who won the 2019 MTV Movie & TV award for Most Meme-Able Moment (yes, thanks to his infamous jumping the fence bit) told Us Weekly his tweet to Ripa "was all in good fun." The former The Bachelorette season 14 contestant further added the entire situation was "blown out of proportion" and "we're both on ABC, so I don't take it too personal."

Underwood shouldn't have been too caught off guard by her comments. When the former Bachelor In Paradise contestant was a guest on Live With Kelly and Ryan earlier that year, Ripa was not shy about critiquing the show or playfully questioning his participation on the series.

Even though Underwood's tweet was apparently "all in good fun," he deleted it. But why not just add "lol" or a laughing emoji to indicate his tweet was in good fun? Perhaps Underwood just had enough of Ripa's bashing of the series that made him a celebrity, or maybe he can't stand her taste in television entertainment. Either way, he did not take his own advice when he told Us Weekly that "it's okay to have opinions and to stand by them."

In 2012, actor Christopher Walken appeared on Live with Kelly and Michael to promote Seven Psychopaths, and the interview started a bit of drama. When Walken told show's hosts that his character kidnaps dogs for ransom, including a dog belonging to a gangster, Kelly Ripa replied (via CBS Los Angeles), "But the gangster's dog is uh, I mean if it's a gangster, it would have to be a dangerous, uh, pit bull kind of dog, right?"

This did not sit well with animal-loving actors Kaley Cuoco and Wil Wheaton. The Star Trek: The Next Generation actor tweeted, "I'm not a gangster. My friend @KaleyCuoco is not a gangster. My dog Seamus is not dangerous. @KellyRipa couldn't be more wrong." Nine minutes later, Wheaton fired a second tweet: "I hope @KellyRipa will do some research, spend some time with a Pit Bull, and correct the misleading impression she gave millions of people." In a tweet that's no longer up, Cuoco asked (via Perez Hilton), "Did Kelly Ripa really say 'all pits are dangerous' on her show this am?"

However, the social media uproar did not tank the relationship between Ripa and Cuoco. In a now-deleted tweet, The Big Bang Theory actor posted (via Perez Hilton), "Ok I'm NOT in a war w @kellyripa.We are friends for years and I adore her! just have a severe luv 4 my global pitbull fam and owners! 🙂." Where's the beef, indeed.