Kelly Ripa says she had to share the public bathroom her first years by organizing "live"

In a new interview, she opens with sexism that she faced on the set of the day show.


Kelly Ripa spent more than 20 years hosting one of the most popular morning shows on TV. But even if it may seem to viewers a glamorous experience, its story with the talk show is not entirely made up of chatting with celebrities in perfect hair and makeup. Ripa revealed that join Live As co-host It was not what she expected and how she was unjustly treated, especially in her early years.

In a new interview with Variety ,, The 52 -year -old star opens with what she perceived as sexism at work in the show, including that she was forced to share the public bathroom of the studio for years and work in the cupboard of a Concierge rather than having your own office. Read the rest to see what Ripa had to say else about the discrimination she met and to find out how she defended herself at work.

Read this then: Ancient View Co-Host says that his cardiologist told him to leave the show .

Ripa did not have a private bathroom, even if his male co-host did it.

Kelly Ripa at the TV Guide Channel Upfront in 2001
Everett / Shutterstock collection

Ripa joined the longtime co-host Philbin regis on Live In 2001, replacing its old co-star Kathie Lee Gifford . She noted in her Variety Interview that she did not receive some of Philbin's amenities. While he had his own studio bathroom, Ripa had to share the public toilets used by the public. AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

"Imagine this," Ripa said at the exit. "We have an audience of studio - like 250 people! - And I have to queue. Especially when I was pregnant, it was extraordinarily exhausting to have to queue. I have to organize the show, and I'm still waiting for line To use the bathroom. It just seemed, you know, a very unnecessarily difficult situation. "

Asked what public members thought, she replied: "Yeah. They couldn't believe it either."

She had to work in the cupboard of a concierge.

Kelly Ripa at CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute in 2018
Ron Adar / Shutterstock

Ripa also hoped to have an office to work, but said that she was denied space, although there were open offices available. He was told that they were reserved for all the executives who could visit the west coast. After a few seasons, Ripa said that she could have used the closet of a concierge as a office.

"It was after my fourth year that they finally cleaned the closet and put an office for me," she said. "And so I worked in the concierge closet with an office so that I can have a place to put things."

Ripa thought we would finally give her a real office after Philbin left the 2011 show, but she was wrong.

"They said," Oh, no, we save that. "And I said:" By saving it for? "And they say:" Well, for when the new guy comes, "said Ripa." And I looked at them and I said: "I Am the new guy. "I just moved my things. I made my way in the office because I could not understand how I would always be in the concierge closet and that someone new would come to pick up the office. ""

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She felt herself undermined by other means.

Kelly Ripa at the New York City Ballet 2018 Fall Fashion Gala
Radin / Shutterstock

In addition to being denied a private bathroom and office, Ripa's "difficult" experience in the show involved not being paid initially enough, a lack of vacation paid, no budget for custody . She was also blinded when she was one of the last to learn this co-host Michael Strahan left the show in 2016, despite its move to Hello America Being one in the network that producers knew.

"The biggest false idea is that everything came easily," Ripa said People In September 2022. "People think I just introduced myself one day and I received a job and I lived happy forever and now everything is perfect. But it's never like."

"It took years to win my place there and earn things that are regularly given to the men I worked with," she said in the same interview. "Including an office and a place to put my computer."

She is satisfied with the new Live crew.

In her Variety Interview, Ripa explained that the people who worked on the show at his start have disappeared now. She also shared that she was satisfied with Disney Executive Debra O'Connell , who started to supervise Live in 2018.

"From my point of view, they put more and more women in positions of power, and women are, by my experience, more willing to hear and solve problems in real time," said Ripa. "It really makes a difference when you have people behind you who come on board. It's powerful."

Ripa is currently hosting the show with Ryan Seacrest , which was on Live Since 2017. Earlier this year, it has been announced that it will leave and replaced by Ripa's husband, Mark Consuelos . While she is looking forward to, Ripa said Variety This Consuelos cast as a permanent co-host was not an idea that was initiated by one or the other. "We are the last people on Earth to suggest working together for anything," she said.


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