EXCLUSIVE: Real Reason Ricki Lake Closed the Show – Talk Host Finally Lifts the Lid on Sobering Truth After 25 Years
Ricki Lake has revealed why she called it quits on her popular show.
May 25 2026, Published 7:30 a.m. ET
Gabby Ricki Lake was riding high with her talk show, but quit and fled New York City after watching in horror as two hijacked passenger jets barreled into New York City's Twin Towers on 9/11, leaving them to crumble as nearly 3,000 inside died.
RadarOnline.com can reveal for the first time in 25 years, the former talk star is revealing why she up and quit her super-successful TV show.
At the time, Lake had been running since 1993, was only just behind Oprah Winfrey in the ratings, and "I could have done it for probably a decade longer," she said.
'9/11 Was a Huge Trajectory Shift in My Life'
Lake said witnessing the 9/11 attacks from her West Village apartment pushed her to leave New York City with her two children.
But the terror of what she'd witnessed Sept. 11, 2001, kept haunting her, she says, so she quit her job as soon as she could, packed up her two tots and left the horror behind.
"I made that choice. 9/11 was a huge trajectory shift in my life. Every aspect of my life changed from witnessing that experience that day from my West Village apartment."
The 57-year-old still gets chills from what she witnessed from her building when she was 33.
"I was so freaked out watching that plane fly down the Hudson and hit that building," she said. "I had a 2-month-old and a 4-year-old. So I was a lactating new mother protecting my cubs, you know?
Ricki Lake Felt Like the "World Was Coming to an End'
After finishing her contract and divorcing Rob Sussman, Lake moved to the West Coast and produced documentaries like 'The Business of Being Born.'
"I mean, I just felt like the world was coming to an end that day. I had an epiphany on the roof of my building as I watched it all unfold – that I would leave New York."
She had to wait a couple of years to finish her contract before she could leave.
About that time, she also divorced hubby Rob Sussman and moved to the West Coast, where she produced documentaries like The Business of Being Born.
Lake, whose second ex-husband, Christian Evans, committed suicide in 2017, has been married to Ross Burningham since 2022. And she's still proud of her talk show.
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Former talk show host Lake said her program helped marginalized people feel represented on television alongside Oprah Winfrey-era daytime TV.
"The show was a phenomenon, and I think we did so much good for young people to get conversations going, for people who were marginalized and not represented, to be seen on television," she noted.
"I mean, I think there's a lot of good that came out of our show."
