After a break from her eponymous morning television show, in which Kelly Ripa (ex-Hayley, ALL MY CHILDREN) and Mark Consuelos (ex-Mateo, AMC) celebrated their 20th anniversary, Ripa returned to LIVE WITH KELLY AND MICHAEL this morning and addressed the flap over the announcement that Michael Strahan is leaving the show in September and her no-show at work last week. “Our long national nightmare is over,” she quipped of the worldwide media frenzy over the situation, then added, “First off, I want to honestly and sincerely thank you all for welcoming me back to the show. The love and show of support to this bizarre time has been very overwhelming. I needed a couple of days to gather my thoughts. After 26 years with this company I earned the right…. In that time, I gained some perspective. I always speak from the heart, so I didn’t want to come out here and say something I regret. So what transpired over the course of a few days has been extraordinary. In a sense that it started a greater conversation about communication, consideration and, most importantly, respect in workplace. And since we’re being honest, I don’t consider this just a workplace, this is my second home…. We have an incredible team and we are devoted to one another. We are family. Apologies have been made, and the best thing to come out of all of this is that our parent company has assured me that LIVE is a priority. There is a commitment to this show and the people that work here and, most importantly, to you the viewers who have watched us for years.”
KELLY RIPA RETURNS TO LIVE
