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kelly ripa kathie lee gifford© Photo: Getty Images

Kathie Lee Gifford reveals reason she won't read Kelly Ripa's new book

Both Kathie and Kelly worked alongside Regis Philbin

Hannah Hargrave
US Deputy Editor
October 11, 2022
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Kelly Ripa's debut book, Live Wire, is already a best seller, but Kathie Lee Gifford won't be reading it.

The much-loved TV personality opens up about her personal life and her career in the autobiography which includes her complicated relatonship with her former co-host, Regis Philbin.

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Kathie - who was the late star's Live co-host for 15 years - spoke out on Good Day New York to explain why she has no desire to read Kelly's stories. 

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Kathie admitted she was upset upon reading headlines ahead of the book's release talking of Kelly and Regis' strained relationship.

"I was very sorry to see the headlines," she said. "We see headlines all the time, and you never know what’s true and not true. I was in Israel, and I saw that and I went, 'Oh, I hope this isn’t true, I just hope it isn’t,' Cause what’s the point? I don’t get it."

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She added: "I'm not gonna read the book. I haven't read it. I don't even know if it's out yet."

kelly ripa regis philbin© Photo: Getty Images

Kelly presented Live! with Regis Philbin before his departure 

She then spoke about what Regis meant to her and how she felt when he died at the age of 88.

"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. 

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"In all the years I knew him, I never saw him unkind to anyone. I never did. If he liked you, he teased you."

regis kathie© Photo: Getty Images

Kathie and Regis were on-air together for 15 years 

Kathie remembered their connection with fondness and continued: "We always just picked up right where we left off. We were frick and frack, we were the odd couple. We were absolutely perfect together for television. We never had an argument, not an unkind word in 15 years, so that was my reality."

In regards to Kelly's book, Kathie 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."

In the book, Kelly said she only discovered Regis was leaving the show when he announced it on-air. But said that while they may have had their differences, she was very fond of him.

"There were good and bad days," she said. "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 things that are routinely given to the men I worked with. Including an office and a place to put my computer."

Speaking about the few times she spent with Regis off-camera, she said: "I loved him, and I still do."

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