Kelly Ripa Asked Oprah Winfrey When She Should Retire from Co-Hosting “Live” as She Approaches 25 Years
Kelly Ripa Asked Oprah Winfrey When She Should Retire from Co-Hosting “Live” as She Approaches 25 Years
Virginia ChamleeWed, February 25, 2026 at 10:41 PM UTC
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Kelly Ripa and Oprah Winfrey.Credit: Cindy Ord/Getty; Michael Loccisano/Getty -
Kelly Ripa says Oprah Winfrey told her not to leave Live at the 25-year mark
Ripa has been hosting Live!since 2001, first by replacing Kathie Lee Gifford as Regis Philbin's co-host
After Philbin retired in 2011, Ripa became the head of the show and has since co-hosted with Michael Strahan, Ryan Seacrest and now, her husband Mark Consuelos
Kelly Ripa says she's turned to an expert to determine when she should retire from Live with Kelly and Mark: Oprah Winfrey.
Ripa, 55, spoke toVariety to coincide with her 25 years hosting Live — noting that Winfrey, 72, left her own eponymous daytime talk show after 25 years.
"Let me give Oprah credit. She left her show at the 25-year mark, and I said to her, 'Should this be my signal?' She’s like, 'Don’t leave. Don’t do it. Right now, you’ll regret it,'" Ripa told the outlet.
"She said, 'With you and Mark, the dynamic, the show is more important than ever. People really relate to it, and they need that in this world of a lot of darkness and an endless 24-hour, never-ending news cycle,' " she added.
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Kelly and MarkCredit: Live with Kelly & Mark
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She continued: "I need to actually ask her, 'You said not to leave at 25, but what year? What are we thinking? Give me an idea of how far beyond 25 I should go.' But I always say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. We are really having a very good time."
Ripa, a former soap opera actress, first joined the daytime talk show on Feb. 5, 2001, officially replacing Kathie Lee Gifford as Regis Philbin's co-host. After the late Philbin retired in 2011, Ripa became the head of the show.
She has since co-hosted with Good Morning America's Michael Strahan, American Idol's Ryan Seacrest and now, her husband of 30 years Mark Consuelos.
The Oprah Winfrey Show, meanwhile, launched nationally in September 1986, running in syndication for 25 seasons and broadcasting 4,561 episodes until May 25, 2011.
As Ripa told Variety, she isn't sure how long she'll stick around as host of Live — but she doesn't want the show itself to go anywhere.
"I want to see this show stay on the air as long as linear TV lives," she said. "The show is far more important than any two hosts, so I just want the show to live forever because it’s a really, really great piece of history. It’s also a great way for people to have worry-free TV that they can watch with their kids."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
