Kelly Ripa Says ABC Made Male ‘Live!’ Co-Hosts Feel “Respected” While She Was Treated Like the “New Girl”

Kelly Ripa has been a daytime star for over 20 years as a co-host on Live!, where she worked alongside Regis Philbin, Michael Strahan and Ryan Seacrest. But working on the show has not always been the easiest job, Ripa recently revealed.

Ripa recounted her fight for equal treatment during those first 15 years of her tenure on Live! in a new interview with Variety, where she described being treated as “second fiddle” to her male co-hosts until Seacrest joined her in 2017 for Live With Kelly And Ryan.

“I know what it’s like to feel like you’re not wanted somewhere. I came from an acting background, and I am an expert in rejection,” she explained. “But this was like weirdly being rejected while also being the person that they wanted for the show.”

According to Ripa, she had no vacation time, maternity leave or wardrobe budget when she first started on the show in 2001. It also took her years to finally get her private office until the network cleaned out a janitor’s closet and gave her a desk.

She also had to share a public bathroom with the audience in the early years of the show. “Picture this: We have a studio audience — like 250 people! — and I have to queue up,” she said. “Particularly when I was pregnant, it was extraordinarily exhausting to have to wait in line.”

Ripa said the power dynamics shifted before Seacrest joined her on the show. Unlike the first 15 years of her time on Live!, she said she now had extra leverage as the more senior host. Her contract renegotiation also gave her leverage as the network realized she could very well leave the show if she wanted, she said.

According to the actress and talk show host, Seacrest’s departure from the show sparked “a little PTSD” for her, considering how the network has handled the show’s previous co-host changes.

”I can’t say it enough. I had a really difficult time. These transitions don’t have to be dramatic,” she said.

Ripa was kept in the dark by her network on the two previous occasions her co-hosts left the show. Variety noted that Philbin announced his retirement on-air without giving Ripa any notice, while Strahan was secretly poached by ABC executive Ben Sherwood for Good Morning America in 2016.

“Initially, I thought this is just what happens, and they don’t have to fill me in because I’ve only been here 10 years. I’m still the new girl,” she said. “But then, when I was the more senior on-air person, it was like watching the same movie all over again: All of those offices that were not available to me were suddenly made available … It was fascinating for me to watch — the need to make the new guy comfortable and respected, but I couldn’t use those offices. I had to use the broom closet.”

Starting April 17, Ripa will be joined by her husband of 24 years, Mark Consuelos, where the pair will bring their off-screen chemistry to daytime television on Live With Kelly And Mark.

Live with Kelly and Ryan airs weekdays at 9/8c on ABC.