Kelly Ripa Speaks Candidly About Battling Sexism At ‘Live!’, Says She Would’ve Quit If They Didn’t Pay Her Fairly: ‘They Had No Choice’
28.03.2023 - 19:09
/ etcanada.com
Kelly Ripa is speaking candidly about the sexism she’s faced at “Live!” over the years.
Ripa has spent 22 years hosting the beloved daytime show, joining in Feb. 2021 to host with Regis Philbin.
However, despite now reportedly earning a salary in the range of $20 million a year, it’s definitely not been easy to get to where she is, Ripa tells Variety.
She admits she didn’t even have a permanent office backstage for her first years on air, recalling: “It was the strangest experience I’ve ever had in my life.
“I was told that I couldn’t have an office. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense, especially because there were empty offices that I could have easily occupied.”
Ripa, who fronts the first of five Power of Women issues of the mag, was finally given a permanent space — an empty janitor’s closest.
She remembers, “It was after my fourth year that they finally cleaned out the closet and put a desk in there for me. And so I was working in the janitor’s closet with a desk so that I could have a place to put things.”
Even after Philbin left in Nov. 2011, bosses still didn’t want to give Ripa his space.
READ MORE: Mark Consuelos & Kelly Ripa Developed ‘Ludicrous’ FaceTime Sexual Rituals While He Was Filming In Canada
She tells the mag, “They said, ‘Oh, no, we’re saving that.’ And I said, ‘Saving it for what?’ And they go, ‘Well, for when the new guy comes.’
“And I looked at them, and I said, ‘I am the new guy.’ I just moved my things. I forced my way into the office because I couldn’t understand how I would still be in the janitor’s closet and somebody new would come in and get the office.
“Initially, I thought this is just what happens, and they don’t have to fill me in because I’ve only been here 10 years. I’m still