Kelly Ripa may have outlasted three “Live” co-hosts so far, but she has a “vision of the show” without her.
The TV personality, who has helmed the long-running morning talk show for 22 years, admitted in a new interview that she “constantly” thinks about walking away from the job — even with her husband, Mark Consuelos, joining the series.
“It’s so funny. Every time you get a new co-host, it’s like a little jolt of energy. But to be clear, I am always thinking about retiring,” she joked to Entertainment Weekly Sunday ahead of Consuelos replacing Ryan Seacrest.
“It is my favorite topic of discussion,” Ripa added.
The final episode of “Live with Kelly and Ryan” aired last Friday, and “Live with Kelly and Mark” began Monday.
“I commend Ryan for lasting as long as he did because I really had my concerns,” the actress told the magazine. “Picking up and moving to New York [is] not as easy as one thinks it might be. The sacrifices he made are not lost on me, and I really think he did it for as long as he possibly could.”
Ripa, 52, said she initially saw herself leaving and Seacrest, 48, getting a new co-host.
“When it became clear that it would not be Ryan staying and me leaving — I always envisioned me leaving and somebody new coming in to work with Ryan when he started on the show — it at first made no sense, but then it made perfect sense that Mark would take over,” she said of the “Riverdale” actor’s new daytime gig.
“But make no mistake, I do see a vision of the show without me,” Ripa went on.
“I am not one of these people that is like, ‘The show can’t go on without me.’ I am a fan of ‘Live’ since before I got there. The bad part about hosting the show for these almost 23 years is that I don’t get to watch the show anymore, and that is sad for me.”
The “Live Wire” author said she sees the next few years as an opportunity to “test new people out.”
“It is a franchise show; I don’t believe the show begins and ends with any one host — I think it’s collaborative,” she explained.
“And I think the next few years provide endless opportunities to test new people out and see what the next iteration of the show will be beyond Mark and me. So it’s a real thought process I always have.”
Consuelos, 52, is the fourth co-host Ripa has worked alongside since she joined TV icon Regis Philbin on the show in 2001, replacing Kathie Lee Gifford.
Philbin, who died at the age of 88 in July 2020, left the show in November 2011.
Former NFL star Michael Strahan co-hosted with Ripa from September 2012 to April 2016, when he departed “Live” for “Good Morning America.”
Seacrest joined the show in May 2017 but ultimately left due to his grueling schedule — he also hosts “American Idol” and a syndicated radio show — and his growing fatigue.
