Kelly Ripa will return to Live! With Kelly and Michael on Tuesday. In an email sent to the show’s staff late Friday night, Kelly explained she took time off in order to process the sudden announcement of her co-host Michael Strahan’s departure.
“I wanted to thank you all for giving me the time to process this new information,” Kelly said in the email, “Your kindness, support, and love has overwhelmed me. We are a family and I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday morning. Love, Kelly.”
She skipped out on Wednesday, the day after learning, just a few minutes before ABC made an official announcement, that Michael would be leaving Live this summer to begin a full time stint on Good Morning America this fall. The show’s staff and executive producer Michael Gelman didn’t learn about his departure until Tuesday either. Kelly took off the rest of the week. Friday and Monday were already scheduled vacation days.
TMZ is reporting that Kelly didn’t decide to come back until ABC brass assured her Live wasn’t headed to a cancellation. Also, Kelly made it clear she’d like Michael to leave sooner rather than later. Both Kelly and Michael are “extremely uncomfortable about sitting together under the circumstances.”
The pair haven’t gotten along for two years, according to various sources. Kelly has a little more than a year left on her contract.
