Kelly Ripa and Regis Philbin: Why They Lost Touch

Kelly Ripa and Regis Philbin hosted Live! With Regis and Kelly together for 10 years. Once Regis announced he was retiring back in 2011, everyone likely expected they’d stay in touch. Oh, they p...
Kelly Ripa and Regis Philbin: Why They Lost Touch
Written by Kimberly Ripley

Kelly Ripa and Regis Philbin hosted Live! With Regis and Kelly together for 10 years. Once Regis announced he was retiring back in 2011, everyone likely expected they’d stay in touch. Oh, they probably wouldn’t have coffee every week–or probably every month for that matter. But after Kelly Ripa and Regis Philbin worked side by side for 10 years, you’d certainly expect that at the very least they’d meet up for dinner once a year.

How about none of the above? It came as quite a surprise to many people earlier this week when Regis Philbin was interviewed by Hoda Kotb on the Today Show’s radio show on SiriusXM, to learn that he and Kelly Ripa haven’t had any contact whatsoever since he left the show.

“I haven’t seen her, I don’t see her,” Regis answered when Hoda Kotb asked him how often he sees or speaks to Kelly Ripa. “She lived downtown, and now I hear she’s on the East Side and, uh, you know.”

When Hoda asked him if that seemed strange at all, he said no. He admitted that he and Kelly Ripa had a great run on the show together, however. Kelly Ripa now hosts the show alongside Michael Strahan on Live! With Kelly and Michael.

Back in 2013, Kelly Ripa said she and Regis had lost touch.

“I haven’t seen him, no,” she said.

Does this strike you as really strange? If you sat beside someone for 10 years–and you liked that person–wouldn’t you at the very least pick up the phone once in a while to say hello? Do you think there’s something here that doesn’t meet the eye?

Someone Regis Philbin has stayed in contact with is Kathie Lee Gifford. Kelly Ripa took over for Kathie Lee when she left the show back in 2001.

“She lives in Greenwich and I’m a weekend guy there, so I do see a lot of her,” Regis told Hoda of Kathie Lee Gifford–now her sidekick on the Today Show.

If you’re having a hard time swallowing the fact that Kelly Ripa and Regis Philbin haven’t been in touch in 10 years–you’re not the only one. It just goes to show you that show business can be just that–and that it doesn’t mean that two people who talk, smile, and laugh together for a decade will necessarily do so when the cameras stop running.

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