Controversies in the Book World: Kelly Ripa
Controversies in the Book World: Kelly Ripa
This is my seventh post in
my Miscellaneous section of the blog. Tonight I’m going to talk about the
controversy about Kelly Ripa’s new memoir “Live Wire”. While the novel has its
fans there has been controversy over it. Some complained about the plethora of
curse words being used. Others are calling Kelly Ripa out on how she’s bashing
Regis Philbin. I remember reading one Amazon review that said Ripa claimed she
and Michael Strahan were “the best of friends”, despite the fact that Kelly was
very angry at him for announcing on Live With Kelly and Michael that he was
leaving the show to go to Good Morning America. One of the many people bashing the
memoir is Kathie Lee Gifford.
Here is what Kathy had to
say according to the article from People.com
“I’m not gonna read the book. I haven’t read it. I don’t even
know if it’s out yet,” she explained. “I just know what Regis was to me. He
was, for 15 years, the best partner a person could ever, ever have
professionally, but he was my friend.”
“We were dear friends and after I left the show, for the
next 20 years, we became better friends, dearer friends. I saw him two weeks
before he died and the minute I found out he had passed, I got in my car and
drove to their house,” Gifford added.
She said she “was very sorry” to read the headlines about
the book, which debuted last month, recounting her reaction: “I saw that and I
went, “Oh, I hope this isn’t true. I just hope it isn’t, because what’s the
point? I don’t get it.”
“In all the years I knew him, I never saw him unkind to
anyone. I never did. If he liked you, he teased you,” Gifford continued.
Gifford’s “first thought” was about Regis’s family, as
she prayed, “Lord protect [his wife Joy Philbin] and the girls from this.” She
also recalled going through boxes of old memories with Joy after Regis died at
age 88 from natural causes in July 2020.
In regards to Ripa’s book, Gifford concluded: I’m not
going to say anything ugly about anybody. I never have and I’m not going to
start now. My reality is something completely different from that.”
While Kathie never said anything
negative about Kelly Ripa herself, her comments are very telling. It’s obvious
that Kathie isn’t so thrilled about the memoir and about what Kelly has written
in it. Ripa had heard about Kathie Lee’s comments. Below are some of Kelly
Rippa’s comments about Kathie Lee’s comments about her memoir.
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
headlines anywhere. And suddenly all of these headlines pop up and there’s all
of this attention on my book,” she 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.”
Released on Sept. 27, Live Wire contains several stories
from Ripa’s personal and professional life. Part of the book details her
working relationship with Philbin.
“That was the hardest chapter to write,” she told PEOPLE
of penning the sections on Philbin, who died in July 2020 at 88 years old. “I
don’t want to feel like I’m slamming anyone or that I’m being disrespectful. But
I also want people to know it was not a cakewalk. It took years to earn my
place there and earn the things that are routinely given to the men I worked
with. Including an office and a place to put my computer.”
While none of us really knew
what happened behind closed doors, I do feel sorry for Regis and his family.
Regis’s family probably doesn’t want to hear any negative stuff about him
whether it’s true or fabricated. I also feel bad for Regis himself, because he’s
dead and he can’t tell his side of what happened. There are many sides to a
story and then there is the truth. I’m also curious about Michael Strahan’s
reaction to Kelly Ripa’s novel. I initially didn’t like him after how he told
Kelly on air that he was leaving her show to be on Good Morning America. I
wonder if Strahan left because Ripa was hard to work with behind the scenes.