Kelly Ripa won’t let anyone rain on her memoir parade.
The talk-show host recently appeared on the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast and opened up about her new book, “Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories.”
The Blast recently reported on Kathie Lee Gifford’s decision to forego reading Ripa’s book.
Kelly Speaks Out About Kathie Lee Gifford’s Refusal To Read Her Book
Both women worked with the late, great Regis Philbin on ‘Live.’
Gifford served as Philbin’s co-host for 15 years while Ripa co-hosted with the TV legend from 2001 to 2011.
Philbin passed away at the age of 88 in 2020.
Ripa writes about her not-so-great relationship with Philbin in the book.
She revealed in the book that there was a power struggle between the two and said they weren’t really close in real life.
Kelly Ripa Talked About Working With Regis Philbin
“My name had to be smaller than Regis’ name on the ‘Live!’ title card and branding. A game of inches, which speaks for itself. But on that we agreed. Seniority, after all,” she wrote in the book.
Gifford told Fox 5’s Rosanna Scotto, “I was very sorry to see the headlines. You know, you never know what’s true and what’s not true. I went, ‘I hope this isn’t true. I just hope it isn’t.’ Cause what’s the point? I don’t get it. I don’t get it.”
When asked about Gifford’s statement on the podcast, Ripa replied, “I didn’t see the interview, so I tend to, like, not go into deep dives about things I can’t comment on because I haven’t seen them. And then I write this entire chapter, [which] is about correcting the record in real-time. Do you do it? Should one do it?”
Kathie Lee Doesn’t Understand The Point Of Ripa Bad Mouthing Philbin
She continued to explain, “Theoretically, should a person correct the record in real-time or should they not even comment on it? Because here’s the thing, it’s like I talked to the people who read the book. I knew writing a book was going to open me up to all sorts of criticism, right? But people who read the book have a very different take on those chapters because they read the book.”
The “All My Children” alum admitted she’s “a big free-speech person,” and believes everyone should “be able to speak” out if they deem it necessary.
“You don’t have to read every book. Nobody has to read every book on Earth,” she continued. “The comments I’ve gotten about those chapters have been overwhelmingly positive and the people who read the book took away a lot of positivity from it. It is ironic that it is that chapter where I talk about, ‘What do I do in these situations?’ Do I advance a media narrative with clickbait and all of that stuff? Or do I just drop it?”
Ripa expressed her gratitude for the buzz surrounding the book both good and bad.
“It’s really hard to sell a book, right? And this is like, week three of the book, right? And I mean, honestly, I’m not gonna lie, I was not reading any headlines anywhere. And suddenly all of these headlines pop up and there’s all of this attention on my book,” Ripa said. “So, I am a person that tends to take a negative and turn it into a positive. And so my ultimate comment is, thank you.”
Her book has been on The New York Times Best Sellers list for two weeks.
“It’s like, thank you, because I think that people that read the book will have a very different take on the book,” she added.
When it comes to Gifford’s comments, Ripa said, “I think anybody that reads the book will have a completely different take.”
