Despite Earning $22M a Year, Kelly Ripa Claims ‘Live’ Made Her Work from the Janitor’s Closet Even Though She’s the Face of the Show
Famous television personality Kelly Ripa of ‘Live’ fame has a grievance to share. In a recent interview, she revealed that the show deprived her of a decent office space to work and was forced to manage in a janitor’s closet. This, even as she was the co-host of the show. She vented out her frustration and minced no words in describing her ordeal.
Kelly Ripa is easily one of the top Television personalities today. Thanks to her phenomenal work at ‘Live’, she herself is the subject of intrigue and discussion. However, if Ripa’s latest revelations are to be believed, she had to go through a hard time before she became the success she is today.
Kelly Ripa’s Hideous Working Conditions on the sets of ‘Live’
Kelly Ripa reveals she battled outrageous sexism on her way to becoming the daytime’s top star. Kelly Ripa has been hosting the single daytime talk show, ‘Live’, for nearly 22 years, which she joined in 2001. The host claims that her early days on the show were difficult. Ripa shared in a recent interview with Variety that she didn’t have a permanent office at the studio, even though she had already been co-hosting the show for several years with the late host Regis Philbin.
Kelly Ripa tells the outlet,
“It was the strangest experience I’ve ever had in my life. I was told that I couldn’t have an office. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense, especially because there were empty offices that I could have easily occupied.”
Ripa revealed that when she asked about being moved to one of the available rooms, producers informed her that they were reserved for executives visiting from the West Coast. She allegedly set up shop in an empty janitor’s closet after her fourth year on the show.
She recalls,
“They finally cleaned out the closet and put a desk in there for me. And so I was working in the janitor’s closet with a desk so that I could have a place to put things.”
Kelly Ripa also claimed she has not given her own bathroom and was forced to share a public restroom with the shows studio audience, even though her male co-anchors had their own stall. She admitted that she knew how difficult things would be behind the scenes.
Kelly Ripa Shares Her Early Days Experience On ‘Live’
Kelly Ripa was already a soap opera star on All My Children when she joined Regis Philbin on‘ Live’ in February 2001. Since then, she has continued to entertain her audience with her cheerful personality on the show. The show has now become the most-watched syndicated talk show on television.
Kelly Ripa co-hosts the talk show with her husband Mark Consuelos these days. In case you missed it, Ryan Seacrest announced on February 16 that he was leaving Live with Kelly and Ryan after six seasons, and Ripa’s husband will co-host the show in his place.
Ripa revealed to Variety that she and Regis Philbin co-hosted the show for a decade before he left in 2011. She was still denied a real office after he left. She stated,
“They said, oh, no, we’re saving that. And I said, saving it for what? , and they go, well, for when the new guy comes.“
She continued,
“And I looked at them and said, I am the new guy. I just moved my things. I forced my way into the office because I couldn’t understand how I would still be in the janitor’s closet, and somebody new would come in and get the office.”
Kelly Ripa had known Ryan Seacrest for many years. The host admitted that his departure from the show caused her anxiety. She claims that her husband, who will take over as co-host in the fall, consoled her about Seacrest’s decision to leave.
Source: Variety
