Kelly Ripa's 8 Most Shocking Secrets & Scandals Exposed
Kelly Ripa caused a stir when she ditched hosting duties for Live! With Kelly and Michael after cohost Michael Stahan quit the show and announced a new position at Good Morning America. While fans blame Strahan for his "betrayal," the 45-year-old good girl has had her fair share of controversies too!
Ripa got caught up in a bitter lawsuit in the late 1990s with Cathy Parker, a manager who claimed she discovered the TV star. Ripa was awarded more than $100,000 in damages in the suit, and her attorney said at the time, "This manager was not a major person in the industry: She had set up shop in her basement in Southern New Jersey."
Ripa and former Live! co-star Regis Philbin seemed like a match made in TV heaven during their 10 years together on the show, but Globe reported that there were tensions after he left in 2011. "Regis realized Kelly was focused on her own life and career but it seemed to some like she turned her back on him," a source said.
The National ENQUIRER reported in 2002 that Philbin often felt that his female counterpart's racy dress code and ambitious personality was a bit too much for the show. "Regis is old school…" a source said. "Kelly, meanwhile, is from the MTV generation. She's young, she wants to liven the show, to provoke a little – and she doesn't like what she feels Regis's fuddy-duddy ideas."
Ripa also reportedly feuded with Kathie Lee Gifford in the past. The tension, which began when Ripa replaced Gifford on the popular morning talk show, reached a new level in 2002 when Gifford tried getting her job back, The ENQUIRER reported. While an insider said that Gifford, then 49, missed her time in the spotlight, a network insider revealed that Ripa was not having it. "She's seething," the source said at the time. "She can't believe that Kathie Lee would even think about coming back."
The feud reportedly continued until at least 2013, when a source claimed that the Today show host sent her rival a shocking message that read "I'm a bigger star than you — show some respect."
On November 15, 2014, Ripa was spotted getting hot and heavy with a shirtless hunk during a restaurant opening in Beverly Hills, The ENQUIRER reported. The dirty dancing hunk, Bruce Bozzi, is a close family friend who is also gay.
While Ripa and Strahan might be going through a rough patch now, in 2014 the two also feuded over the morning show's ratings! For the first time ever Live! With Kelly & Michael, beat out Dr. Phil in viewers. Ripa was furious that her cohost was trying to take credit for the influx of new viewers, according to The National ENQUIRER. "Now she's left wondering what kind of monster she created," a source said.
In 2013, a scantily clad Ripa took down her squeaky clean image after she performed a raunchy act in a Canadian comedy club. The mom-of-three poked fun at former co-host Philbin, and even insinuated that her husband doesn't satisfy her in bed.