Kelly Ripa Said She Thinks About Retirement from ‘Live’ “With Great Interest”

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published 16 August 2023

Kelly Ripa has cohosted Live for 22 years, replacing Kathie Lee Gifford alongside Regis Philbin back in 2001. In those years, four men have sat beside her—Philbin, who left the show in 2011; Michael Strahan, who cohosted from 2012 to 2016; Ryan Seacrest, who was Ripa’s partner-in-crime from 2017 to 2023; and now, her husband of 27 years Mark Consuelos. But, despite cohost shakeups, Ripa has been a steady presence—and as she approaches the quarter-century mark, does she ever think about retiring?

Entertainment Tonight reports that she’s thinking about retirement “with great interest,” but isn’t ready to make the big leap just yet. “I think the risk-averse quality I have is probably the reason I stayed with the same job for so long,” she said in an interview with wellness outlet The Purist. “Other offers come along, but I like to stick with what I know. I am very steadfast in everything I do, and so when you have me, you have me for life. Having said that, I don’t intend to work at this job for the rest of my life. I do talk about retirement with great interest, but right now I’m very happy, especially working with Mark.”

Not many can say they have been in a marriage for 27 years and the same job for 22, but Ripa wasn’t kidding when she said, “when you have me, you have me for life.” Though Live has been her mainstay, Ripa has also launched a podcast, “Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa,” and written a book, last year’s Live Wire. Before joining Live in 2001, Ripa starred as Hayley Vaughan on the soap opera All My Children, which is where she met Consuelos in 1995.

Of their 27 years married, Ripa told Entertainment Tonight “it goes faster than you think.” The two are now not just life partners but coworkers, and Consuelos told the outlet that they’ve set boundaries to keep home life and work life separate: “Once we get ready for work, it’s work time,” he said. “And we get here, you know, she has her dressing, [I have] my dressing room.”

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.

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